Thoughts on metro systems on a visa run to KL

Dispatches from Southeast Asia: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Thoughts on metro systems in Southeast Asia, and my mission of railway expansion in ASEAN.

Greetings from KL, where I am doing a visa run. Normally I would plan a longer trip somewhere else after one visa expires, but I have other trips planned for the rest of the year which require me back in Vietnam.

I was here a few months ago and I have already filed a construction report for this year, so I can look around for other stories on this trip.

[At the base of the unfinished Merdeka 118 Tower in Kuala Lumpur.]

This week I’m compiling an annual report about the railways of Southeast Asia, so I will post the link for that in the free weekly newsletter on Wednesday. I will then do an annual report for metro systems.

Whenever I am in KL I make a point of going somewhere by urban rail to see how it compares with other systems. I wrote about how KL has been improving the interchanges between stations, using some prominent examples around the city.

I have been thinking about how KL continues to improve its metro system, especially compared to Bangkok. There is also the shambles of Vietnam’s metro construction.

These thoughts, and seeing my work in other places are featured in this week’s dispatches from Southeast Asia.