KL Sentral: The Mega Integrated Urban Centre As The Business, Financial & Transport Hub Of Kuala Lumpur
KL Sentral, the short name for Kuala Lumpur Sentral, is the new mega integrated urban centre of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that has been exclusively conceived in 1994 and then designed as a modern world-class business, financial and transport hub. The gross development value will be RM11.76 billions when all the phases are completed in 2015.
The massive KL Sentral development that spread over 72 acres has at its core that houses the Kuala Lumpur intermodal transit hub, the Stesen Sentral Kuala Lumpur. It is commonly referred to as Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station, or in short, KL Sentral as the name for the station and the urban centre itself is commonly referred to. The KL Sentral Station in Kuala Lumpur is considered as the largest railway station in South East Asia when it first opened in 2001.
Besides the gigantic KL Sentral Station, the other buildings in the massive KL Sentral consists of corporate office towers, top class hotels, shopping mall, residential towers and recreational buildings. Some buildings are completed while others are in various stages of development.
Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station
KL Sentral Station is the prime transit hub for the Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley’s public transport networks in Malaysia. The transport networks that are integrated within KL Sentral Station are as follows:
- RapidKl Light Rail Transit
- RapidKL KL Monorail
- KLIA Express Rail Link
- KTM Komuter
- KTM Intercity
- RapidKL Bus Hub
Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station Plan
Transit Concourse Level 1: KTM Komuter, RapidKL LRT, Klia Express, KLIA Transit
Transit Concourse level 2: KTM Intercity
KL Monorail and RapidKL Bus are not located inside KL Sentral Station but they can be accessed within walking distance.
Please click this link to get a bigger size KL Sentral Map and KL Sentral Station Plan
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RapidKL Light Rail Transit
The RapidKL Light Rrail Transit, commonly called RapidKL LRT by the local, consists primarily of two main lines: the Kelana Jaya Line, which is the only line that passes through KL Sentral, and the Ampang Line. The 56 km RapidKL LRT network has 50 stations.
KTM Komuter
The KTM Komuter is an urban commuter rail service. It consists of two main routes with 51 stations in the 217 km regional electric commuter train network for Kuala Lumpur, the Klang Valley, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. The 2 routes are the Batu Caves-Port Klang route that travels from Batu Caves to Port Klang and the Rawang-Seremban route that travels from Rawang to Seremban and Sungei Gadut in Negeri sembilan.
The KL Sentral KTM Komuter train platform is at Level 1 of the Transit Concourse.
KTM Intercity
KTM Intercity is the inter city trains that serve all major stations in West Malaysia. The routes are connected all the way to the south to Singapore and to Thailand in the north.
RapidKl KL Monorail
KL Monorail, with 11 stations in the 8.6 km route, is an urban monorail system that serves mainly the inner core of Kuala Lumpur. The KL Sentral Monorail station is not situated inside KL Sentral but sited at 410 km away in nearby Jalan Tun Sambanthan.
KLIA Express Rail Link
KLIA Express Rail Link (ERL) is the fastest express rail link that connects the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to the Kuala Lumpur city center through KL Sentral Station.
The KLIA Express line is a nonstop express rail service that takes only takes 28 minutes to reach your destination.
The KLIA Transit line that takes 35 minutes to reach the final destination has 3 intermediate stations between the KLIA and Kuala Lumpur. The 3 stopover stations are Bandar Tasik Selatan, Putrajaya and Salak Tinggi. The KLIA Transit has another service that connects to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). You take the KLIA Transit line at KL Sentral to Salak Tinggi and change to a coach to reach LCCT.
KL Sentral Business and Financial Centre
The KL Sentral Business and Financial Centre consists of the following completed buildings and buildings under various stages of construction:
Image via Flickr
Corporate Office Towers
The completed corporate office towers are the 5 towers in Plaza Sentral, 1 Sentral, Mercu UEM Headquarters, MIDA Headquarters, SSM Headquarters and Quill 7.
The corporate office towers that are currently under construction are Q Sentral and CIMB Group Headquarters.
Hotels
The completed hotels in KL Sentral are Hilton Kuala Lumpur and Le Meridian Kuala Lumpur while The Aloft Kuala Lumpur and St. Regis Hotel and Residence are under construction.
F&B and Entertainment Complex
The Sooka Sentral is the lifestyle centre of KL Sentral which consists of restaurants, Fitness and spa centre and other entertainment outlets.
Residential Buildings
The completed condominiums are Suasana Sentral and Suasana Sentral Loft. The 52-storey Sentral Residence is expected to be completed by 2015.
Integrated Complex
Nu Sentral is the mega integrated complex, consists of a shopping mall, 2 corporate towers and a hotel, is currently under construction.
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KL Sentral Map
KL Sentral Transit Concourse Level 1: KTM Komuter, RapidKL LRT, Klia Express, KLIA Transit
KL Sentral Transit Concourse Level 2: KTM Intercity
History of KL Sentral Development
The Government of Malaysia had awarded in 1994 the former Keretapi Tanah Melayu old railway marshaling yard in Brickfields to a consortium lead by Malaysian Resources Corporation to develop the 72 acres (290,000 m2) land into a modern integrated urban business, financial and transport centre.
The master plan of the entire development was designed by the world famous Japanese architect, Kisho Kurokawa, who has designed the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) as well. The master plan and design for the development is inspired by a ‘City-within-a-City’ concept.
All the phases would be completed by 2015 to make Kuala Lumpur Sentral a world-class city valued at a massive RM 11.7 billions. The whole development consists of KL Sentral Station, corporate office towers and business suites, 5-star international hotels (KL Hilton & Le Meridian Hotel), luxury condominiums and a shopping mall.
The first phase development is the KL Sentral Station, which was completed in 2001 at a cost of RM1.1 billion.
In 2006, KL Sentral was awarded the first MSC Cybercentre status by the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).