INGENIEUR
Figure 5: Malaysia East Coast Line railway bridge
which cross Nenggiri River in Kemubu, Kelantan
had totally lost due to massive flood in December
2014.
in December 2014. The damage included the
railway quarters, signalling, tracks, locomotives,
machinery and rolling stock. The disruption
affected thousands of workers, traders and
children going to school. There is still one stretch
of line still not back in operation due to the
collapse of the railway bridge in Kemubu, Kelantan
(see Figure 5). Operation of the train service in the
east coast was expected to be fully operational
with the completion of the railway of the new
250m long bridge across the Nenggiri River, which
is expected to cost RM30 million8. This incident
should give a lesson to the railway industry and
policy makers that extreme weather can have a
severe impact to the transportation operations as
well as to their infrastructure. Rebuilding railway
infrastructure is not easy and is very costly, thus
to provide a reliable railway system into the future,
studies of the impact of climate change is needed.
From these studies, the adaptation of railway
infrastructures and rolling stock to the climate
change could be established.
Vulnerability of High Speed Rail
Infrastructure in Malaysia
It has been decided by SPAD, the HSR Malaysia
route will be along the coastal area. Malaysia’s
geology comprises a wide range of rock types
from the sands and silts of the coastal plains
to the granite of the Main Range. Geologists
group the rocks according to their type, age
and environmental deposition. The most widely
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used unit for geology reference is based on
their formation and each type is given its own
geographical name. In Peninsular Malaysia, the
geology ranges from Cambrian to the Quartenary,
that is from 570 million years to about 10,000
years ago, as shown in Figure 6. In Figure 7, the
proposed HSR route starting from Kuala Lumpur
will pass through a carboniferous area, which
prominently consists of limestone. The route then
will cross granite in the Seremban area. Towards
the south, the alignment will pass through the
limestone and sandstone area. The HSR route
from Melaka to Nusajaya lies on the coastal area
matching with the geology profile of marine and
continental deposits. Mostly, the soil conditions
are in the form of clay, silt and peat.
According to observations of the IPCC Woking
Group 1 Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Fourth Assessment Report9, the evidence for rapid
climate change as noted below is compelling:
i. Global temperature rise
ii. Sea level rise
iii. Warming oceans
iv. Shrinking ice sheets
v. Declining Arctic sea ice
vi. Glacial retreat
vii. Extreme events
viii. Ocean acidification
ix. Decreased snow cover
Climate Change and Effects to Railway
Infrastructure
Extreme weather events have occurred frequently
in Malaysia in the past decade. The most
devastating natural disasters experienced in
Malaysia are floods and landslides.
i) Floods
The destructive flood in the southern peninsular
of Malaysia which occurred back to back in
December 2006 and January 2007 are linked to
Typhoon Utor. The massive flood in Kota Tinggi,
Johor started when the Northeast monsoon
brought heavy rain through a series of storms. The
series of floods were unusual as the 2006 average
rainfall return period was 50 years of return
period, while 2007 had more than 100 years of