As Kuala Lumpur’s upcoming international financial district, one of the key aims of the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) is to transform the city around it and advance its status to that of a world-class city.
In addition to being set up to be Kuala Lumpur’s best business address, TRX will also make itself an iconic destination for tourism and leisure. To achieve this, TRX has paid special attention to an important factor in establishing Kuala Lumpur as a world-class city – connectivity.
TRX will be the most accessible district in Kuala Lumpur, whether you travel by train, by road or on foot.
Kuala Lumpur’s famous Golden Triangle encompasses the city’s prime tourist and shopping districts of KLCC and Bukit Bintang. Being located in the corner of the Golden Triangle, TRX is essentially an extension of the Bukit Bintang commercial belt.
To capitalize on this, TRX is building pedestrian walkways to link the district directly to the heart of Bukit Bintang, improving walkability both within and outside the district.
Designing a peerless public realm helps create a business district that will function beyond business hours, one that is vibrant and people-centric, as is the philosophy of renowned urban planner Jose Silvetti of Machado Silvetti, the chief master planner of TRX.
“Whether the district will work or otherwise depends on the level which its people interact.”
“We can have towers and beautiful office spaces, where individuals can work and have fantastic views, but it is the place where everybody gets together on their way home, where they meet to go shopping or just having time to spare is where the city proves itself,” he said.
Pedestrians will find outdoor comfort and security traversing TRX’s network of walkways and throughout the district’s 10-acre central urban park. A rooftop park unlike any other, TRX City Park sits atop a four-storey shopping mall that is part of The Exchange TRX, the district’s lifestyle precinct.
TRX will also have well-connected pockets of green spaces, an additional 4-acre of green, equipped with informative directional signage and other useful facilities such as benches, shading, kiosks and public toilets, creating a pedestrian-friendly public realm.
This weaving public realm will reach out to Bukit Bintang on one end and looped into the Tun Razak Exchange MRT station on the other, connecting commuters to the rest of Greater Kuala Lumpur by rail.
The TRX station is the only interchange in the city between the existing Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) line and the upcoming Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP). With exceptional rail connectivity as the centerpoint of the MRT network, you can arrive at TRX in 45 minutes or less traveling from any of the MRT stations in the Klang Valley.
To ensure pedestrians are prioritized, TRX’s vehicle entrances are accessible mainly via an underground tunnel loop system. This frees up the ground level street frontage to be used for other purposes, such as lively retail outlets, creating an active, vibrant atmosphere.
TRX also has direct access to Kuala Lumpur’s major roads and highways, with links to Jalan Tun Razak, the network of roads in Bukit Bintang, as well as the SMART Tunnel via direct tunnel access.
Meanwhile, its connection with the Maju Expressway (MEX) shortens travel time between TRX and Kuala Lumpur International Airport to 40 minutes, while direct feed into the upcoming third phase of the Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway, also known as the Setiawangsa-Pantai Expressway, will ensure seamless connectivity to anywhere in the Greater Klang Valley.
TRX is also working with the City Hall to upgrade Jalan Tun Razak, the arterial road for the city’s CBD. Widening works and effective lane balancing and segregation, together with the construction of new access roads around TRX, are expected to help with traffic dispersal and reduce congestion along Jalan Tun Razak and the adjacent Jalan Bukit Bintang by almost 30 percent.
The high commercial potential of TRX as a new tourist and business destination is bound to have a spillover effect on the neighbouring districts of Imbi and Pudu, creating the impetus for urban regeneration in the surrounding area.
*Special Feature in Going Places Magazine for November 2019 issue.
