KUCHING: The Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) prototype vehicle for the Kuching Urban Transportation System (KUTS) will arrive here soon.
Last Friday (July 14) the vehicle left its manufacturing base in Zhuzhou, China.
According to China News, the hydrogen-powered ART is ready to be sent to Sarawak, marking the first delivery of a China-made ART to Southeast Asia.
The vehicle will undergo a two-month engineering run at The Isthmus in September and October to prepare for the proof-of-concept (POC) trial run along a short stretch of the Blue Line on Kuching-Samarahan Expressway in November.
Phase 1 of the KUTS project involves three ART project routes: the Blue Line from Rembus in Kota Samarahan to Hikmah Exchange in the city centre, spanning 27.6 kilometres, expected to begin operation in stages by the end of the fourth quarter of 2025.
Meanwhile, the Red Line from Kuching Sentral to Pending, covering 12.3 kilometres, and the Green Line from Pending to Damai Central, spanning 30 kilometres, are expected to be fully operational by the middle of the second quarter of 2027.
The KUTS project is expected to revolutionise Sarawak’s urban transportation by offering a cleaner, more efficient, and interconnected transit system while mitigating the city’s traffic congestion.
