Putrajaya Monorail

When the powers that be were planning the city of Putrajaya (Malaysia’s purpose-built administrative capital) they decided to include a monorail system for intra-city commuters. The network is intended to have two lines, 23 stations and 18 km of track. During the construction phase of the city some of the heavy infrastructure for the monorail was put in place but it was concluded in 2004 that the remainder of the construction should be shelved until such time as the population of Putrajaya could justify the viability of a monorail service.  The city’s population has since grown to around 70,000  but there is no firm news yet on when the monorail will be de-mothballed.

I had a look round the other day to see what infrastructure is already in place. Starting at Putrajaya Sentral, the future monorail station has already been built above the mainline railway station for the KLIA transit service.  The monorail is normally screened off by some hoarding but on this day the cleaners had left the door open so I took a peek inside.

Escalators to monorail platform. 

putrajaya monorail platform and track.

Everything looks neat and well maintained but the tracks do not go far.

End of the line for now. 

The monorail’s handsome suspension bridge is in place.

The monorail bridge.

The bridge to nowhere. 

After the bridge the route disappears underground.

putrajaya monorail 023

I took this photo through the railings. Considering that construction ended 7 years ago, the tunnel looks in good condition. A bit creepy though!

Any creatures living in there?

The tracks are intended to run on the lower deck of the Putra bridge.

 Putra Bridge. The monorail will run under the road.

Monorail signage.

Future station entrance.

Putrajaya is set to reach 150,000 inhabitants in the next 5 years and the eventual  target population is 320,000. Once all the housing units which are currently lying empty, or are nearing completion, are filled up there should be sufficient demand for a monorail service. To improve the utility of the monorail it should be linked up to the planned MRT network so that commuters in nearby towns like Kajang, Puchong, Seri Kembanang and Banggi can travel into Putrajaya on public transport. Neighbouring Cyberjaya should also be linked in.

The supporting cables are pretty big up close.

10 thoughts on “Putrajaya Monorail”

  1. Interesting. The Malaysians appear to have “mothballed” it pretty well really. Where I am living things would be far messier!

    1. interesting. what do you mean by pondok anyway? something like underground tunnel? -one of the putrajaya resident 🙂

      1. Hi Ida,
        Thank you for your comment. I’m also not sure what ‘hazimikhwan’ meant by pondok but in the Laman Perdana area, next to the Prime Minister’s Office, there is a building (next to a fountain and a public toilet) which looks like it might have been designed as access to an underground station for the monorail. I could be wrong so if you find a different answer please let me know.

  2. Hi Adrianna,
    I have seen a proposed route map which did not include IOI Resort. The closest stop was in Presint 14 (The Diplomatic Precinct). When the project is revived (if ever) perhaps they might consider adding IOI Resort to the network given all the development that is going on there.

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