Prasarana hosts Prince Abdullah for MMMSL tour

Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (Prasarana) on Monday hosted Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, the deputy governor of the Makkah region, for a special tour of the Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro Southern Line (MMMSL) to check on the readiness of its trains and facilities for the upcoming haj operations.

Accompanied by key members of Makkah Region Development Authority (MRDA), Prince Abdullah toured the MMMSL Depot in Arafah before proceeding to Arafat 3 station where he was briefed on the crowd management and movement of pilgrims during the operations.

At the depot, the Prince and his delegation was provided full updates on preparation works by Haji Ahmad Jamaluddin Salleh, who is the Managing Director of Prasarana Integrated Management & Engineering Services (Prime) – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) office.

“His Royal Highness and his delegation visited the depot. They spent quite some time at the OCC (Operation Control Centre) where we briefed HRH on the different movements of the trains, the train frequency and how we managed everything from the control centre.

“HRH was happy with the preparations and for us at Prime-KSA, we are truly pleased with the high interest that HRH has shown throughout the tour. The event was also widely covered by the local media especially with HRH regularly updating his tweeter as he was making his rounds.

“As for our current status, we will be completing our test simulation case on 8 September, which is two weeks ahead the schedule. And, now, we are preparing for the full Integrated Exercise together with the local authorities,” Jamaluddin added.

To be held for two consecutive days on 23rd and 24th August, the local authorities involved in the integrated exercise include the Civil Defence, Red Crescent and the security forces.

“This integrated exercise will be a very important milestone for MMMSL as it will be witnessed by the ICP (Independent Competent Person) group, which will submit a report to the Public Transport Authority (PTA),” Jamaluddin added.

Operational only for seven days and specifically for haj, MMMSL’s services for this season’s haj commenced at 29 August; ending at September 4. It will manage some 350,000 pilgrims from Middle East and South East Asia.