Staff Secondment to Saudi Arabia for the 10th Year.

Kuala Lumpur, 13 April 2023 – Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd (ERL) will be sending 24 of its employees to Saudi Arabia to support the operations of the Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro once again during this year’s Hajj season. ERL was awarded a 3-year contract to provide support staff for the Hajj operations in 2022 following the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the tenth year of its involvement in Makkah which started in 2012.

Also known as the Makkah Metro, this 18-kilometre railway system connects the holy sites of Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina, and operates only 7 days in a year to transport the pilgrims during the peak Hajj week.

ERL’s staff secondment project is a collaboration with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) Saudi, the railway operation company appointed by the Saudi Government to operate the Makkah Metro line. The Makkah Metro system is thought to have the highest capacity in the world, with 12 carriages in each trainset that could ferry 3,000 passengers on each trip, or over 72,000 passengers in each direction, every hour.

Chief Executive Officer of ERL, Noormah Mohd Noor said, “We are honoured to be given the trust once again by CRCC Saudi to ensure the smooth running of the train services in areas of station management and also in the operations control rooms. The team this year will include four experienced senior officers who will be seconded again for the eighth time. We will also be sending six new team members who will be joining for the first time this year. It will certainly be a great learning experience for all of them.”

Deputy Minister of Transport Malaysia, YB Datuk Haji Hasbi bin Haji Habibollah who was the Guest of Honour at the staff send-off ceremony commended the initiative taken by ERL to expand its services overseas, reflecting its high standards and capabilities to compete globally.

He later handed over the Jalur Gemilang to ERL Team Leader, Putera Wan Jaffri Bin Abdul Hamid who will once again assume the role of Deputy Station Manager, the second most senior in the whole Makkah Metro operations.

Manpower Requirement

A total of 24 employees from ERL and its subsidiary company, ERL Maintenance Support Sdn Bhd (E-MAS) will be seconded for a period of 2.5 months to support the operations and management of nine stations. Besides Putera Wan Jaffri, the rest will hold the following positions: Station Master, Assistant Station Master and Station Control Room Agent.