The 665-kilometer-long ECRL project, undertaken by CCCC, connects the important towns on the east coast of Malaysia and the economic centers on the west coast, building an east-west railroad on the Peninsula Malaysia. After completion, it will the first railroad connecting the east and west coast of the Peninsula Malaysia and promote the development of trade, logistics, import and export and tourism of Malaysia.

A Malaysian official said that this large infrastructure project will bring Chinese technology and rich experience to Malaysia, and will also provide a modern, safe and efficient transport network to Malaysia's East Coast, and will be a game-changer of Malaysian transportation.

In addition to a game-changer of Malaysian transportation, the project will also help balance the development gap between the east and west coasts of Malaysia. The construction and operation of the project will promote the development of the processing industry, mining, tourism and other industries, accelerating the formation of a new integrated economic pattern. According to the Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Berhad (MIDF), the project is expected to boost Malaysia's economic growth by 2.7%, merchandise imports by 3.3%, fixed investment by 2.1%, and local GDP by 1.5 percentage points during the construction phase alone.

Since the start of the project, CCCC has always insisted on the ecological civilization and sustainable development throughout the project construction, and has done a good job in restoring the environment of the construction area by adopting new technologies, techniques, equipment and materials, continuously improving the construction process and work methods, improving the environmental management system and other means, so as to create an ecological model under the Belt and Road Initiative. 

In order to make local trainees' dreams about being an engineer, the China-Malaysia railway talent training was officially launched on September 25, 2017, and a tripartite training cooperation memorandum was re-signed in July 2019 among the project team, Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd and the government agency of construction industry development. The plan is to train 5,000 outstanding railroad construction and operation talents for Malaysia and they will be selected for jobs of the ECRL project on the results of a competitive examination.

As of this May, the construction progress of the ECRL project has reached 30%. The project will be completed and put into operation in 2026.