Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd (ERLSB), a rail operator controlled by YTL Corp Bhd, has received offers from India and Saudi Arabia to participate in some major railway projects in the two countries.
Chief executive officer Noormah Mohd Noor said a Delhi-based consultancy firm wants ERLSB to offer its expertise in packaging the financing for a few railway projects in India.
India will be investing more than US$20 billion (RM70 billion) for railway development over the next few years.
Noormah said a group in Saudi Arabia has offered to tie up with ERLSB for operation and maintenance contracts.
The group is involved in railway developments and has bid for projects in Medina.
Noormah declined to name the companies.
"We will study the feasibility of the contracts to see if it would be viable for us to cary out the works. There are a lot of railway developments in Saudi Arabia," she told Business Times in an interview.
It was reported this month that the Saudi Railways Organisation is inviting bids for the second main construction job on its US$7 billion (RM24.4 billion) high-speed railway between Mecca and Medina.
It has asked six prequalified international consortiums to prepare bids for the US$1.4 billion operations, signaling and maintenance deal.
The Al-Rajhi Alliance, led by Saudi Arabia's Mada and Al Rajhi groups, won the first main construction contract in March this year.
"We are capable of handling operation and maintenance contracts. Our unit ERL Maintenance Support Sdn Bhd (Emas) is doing something similar in Thailand. We want to be sure it is the right time to enter India and the Middle East," Noormah added.
Emas has contracts from the State Railway of Thailand. for operation and maintenance, plus to train drivers for Bangkok's express railway line,
Noormah said Emas has been invited to submit proposals for similar contracts in India and Dubai and is in preliminary talks with the project owners.
"While we are exploring to go overseas, our focus is still on Malaysia. There is a lot more we could do to build our business, such as offering our expertise for railway development locally," she added.
ERLSB holds a 30-year concession to operate the KLIA Express and KLIA Transit rail services from KL Sentral in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, to the KL International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang.
It has 12 electric high-speed train sets to operate the routes.
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