Kuala Lumpur's urban transport system has agreed to buy 22 new trains from a consortium led by Canada's Bombardier at a cost of RM1.2 billion.

The deal, aimed at improving the main train line servicing the capital and surrounding districts and reducing chronic traffic congestion, also involves an option for an additional 13 trains.

The first trains are expected to be delivered in the second half of 2008, said Shaipudin Shah Harun, chief executive of the owner of the network, Syarikat Prasarana Negara which is owned by the finance ministry.

Kuala Lumpur has several train systems servicing commuters, but the Putra LRT is the biggest network.

Shaipudin said the train carriages will be 35 percent local content, manufactured by Bombardier Transportation in Canada and with final assembly carried out by the Malaysian firm Hartasuma.

Unsatisfactory

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak hailed the purchase as a step forward for Kuala Lumpur's creaking public transport system which he said was little used by the capital's citizens.

Najib pointed out that in Singapore 56 percent of people used public transport, compared to 30 percent in Bangkok and 54 percent in Manila.

"Would you believe Kuala Lumpur's share is a dismal 16 percent. And given modern-day urban traffic complexities, this is simply unacceptable and untenable in the long run," he said at a signing ceremony.

"The government fully intends to increase the percentage of public transport passengers to around 40 percent so as to ease traffic congestion," he said, conceding that current transport services were "somewhat unsatisfactory".