KUALA LUMPUR: The light rail transit (LRT) service operations in the Kelana Jaya line are expected to be fully rectified and improved by the third quarter (Q3) next year.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said a total of 56 trains would be deployed to ensure minimum interval time for passengers by Q3 next year.
“At the moment, only 38 trains are operating on the Kelana Jaya line, which has five-minute interval time.
“Optimally, we need to lower it to a three-minute interval time to avoid passengers congestion. For that, we would need 48 trains to be fully operated.
“However, a total of 18 train sets are going through maintenance works such as having tachometer changes and so on,” he told a press conference today.
Loke added that more trains would be operated and added to reduce interval time after having maintenance works completed.
He said the full report for the service disruption that caused 16 LRT stations at the Kelana Jaya line to be suspended last month would be revealed by the independent legal body, WSP, in the nearest time.
“One of the major causes of the disruption was due to the overcapacity of passengers daily, which is at 200 thousand and this is the most crowded and congested line.
“The independent report by WSP would be made public by Prasarana Malaysia Bhd (Prasarana) so that the public knows what was the actual root cause of the disruption.
“The report on the closure of LRT would also be presented to the Cabinet,” he said.
He added that Prasarana had also bought 19 train sets expected to be used by October 2023.
“The new train seats are important to ensure good, quick and comfortable services to the passengers.
“Major maintenance is also being done to the LRT system in terms of power generator, power trip and signaling system to ensure a safe ride.
“We acknowledge that the operations are not stable and there will be services disruption from time to time. However, we will do our best to ensure safe and smooth operations,” he said.
Last month, Prasarana announced that its LRT services between the Kelana Jaya and Ampang Jaya stations were halted for safety purposes, after a malfunction in its automatic train control (ATC) system was detected.
Following the malfunction, a total of 16 stations along the Kelana Jaya line were closed and suspended from operating from Nov 9 to Nov 15.
Source: New Straits Times
