The Railwaymen's Union of Malaya (Rum) has urged the government to sack KTMB Bhd president Elias Kadir, saying it has lost confidence in his leadership.

Union president Abdul Razak Mohd Hassan is backing KTMB new chairperson Nawawi Ahmad, who has an alternative business plan for the loss-making rail corporation.

"The impression is that KTMB has two captains, who are issuing two different directions ... it shows that even the chairperson has loss faith in the president," Abdul Razak told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said the union had written twice in the last two months to premier and Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak to sack Elias - since the corporation falls under the Finance Ministry - and sent 31 complaint letters to the management

Rum, which represents 3,600 blue-collar workers, plans to hold a picket on May 9 at the KTMB head office, exactly two years after the appointment of Elias.

Nawawi, who is also the MP for Langkawi, was appointed as KTMB's chairperson on Feb 10. Meanwhile, Elias was appointed KTMB's president in April 2012. His contract lasts for three years.

Before joining KTMB, Elias had helmed the operations of Malaysia's major conglomerates like Proton Holdings Bhd, Kontena Nasional Bhd and Felda Holdings Bhd and also KTMB subsidiary Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd.

RUM's Abdul Razak claimed that Elias was unable to grow KTMB - which operates freight, intercity and commuter train services in Peninsula Malaysia. He estimated that KTMB could easily add RM500 million more a year in revenue if it boosted freight services and bought more locomotives.

He criticised Elias for dropping a bid to buy new locomotives when he took helm of KTMB in 2012, but over a year later, turned around and sought more trains.

'On time, every time' motto mocked

Elias also failed to overhaul many of the old locomotives, resulting in slow train services and mocked KTMB's own motto - "on time, every time," he added.

"We have explained our problems to him but it is as if it goes in his right ear and out his left," Abdul Razak said.

Without the new locomotives, the new RM15 billion electrified double-track rail project from Ipoh to Padang Besar which is due to start in June would also be under-used, he added.

Besides irking RUM, Abdul Razak cited that over a dozen "experts" have also quit in frustration under Elias leadership, while KTMB overpaid for a "train expert" from India with a salary of RM30,000 a month.

He noted that workers were unhappy as without a solid business plan, KTMB workers would remain perpetually underpaid.

Their pay scales have not been revised since 1992 and their "take home pay" was also lower than other so-called providers of social services such as police, teachers, army and utility company workers, he said.

Except for some profits in 1993-1995, KTMB has been a loss-making company. It had accumulated nearly RM1.5 billion in losses since it was incorporated in 1992 as it kept commuter fares low.

MMC Corp Bhd, a company controlled by Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, had offered to takeover KTMB and had estimated that RM7 billion was needed to rehabilitate the 130-year old rail company. The bid was unsuccessful and RUM was also against such a move for now.

Despite the long list of complains, Abdul Razak disclosed that Elias was a personal friend and they still exchanged short text messages.

Noting that he had no personal grudge, Abdul Razak said he has however not met with Elias since December last year. This was after RUM's executive committee, which decided unanimously that Elias must go.