Prasarana explained today that it had to halt LRT service from Kelana Jaya to Ampang Park due to concerns that there might be another train collision.
The firm’s CEO Azharuddin Mat Sah said trains were unable to move automatically yesterday and that RapidKL could not “see the trains” on monitors.
“And that’s very important… So, we had to make the very tough call to suspend operations.
“We know that many are affected by this disruption, but our priority is safety. We certainly don’t want the unfortunate incident that happened in May 2021 to happen again.
“Whenever we run our operations, we have to be confident it’s safe. If we don’t meet the high standards we’ve set, we will not run the trains and will inform the public accordingly,” he said at a press conference today.
The accident in 2021 was the worst involving the Kelana Jaya line.
In that accident, a train that was being tested on a live track was hit by another train carrying 213 passengers. A few passengers were critically injured in the crash.
Prasarana announced yesterday that rail service between Kelana Jaya and Ampang Park would be suspended for seven days, causing a major disruption to public transportation in the Klang Valley.
Azharuddin said engineers have been trying to solve the problem since Saturday.
Experts from Thales Group – the original equipment manufacturer – have also flown in from Canada to assist.
Azharuddin vowed to compensate passengers with free fares for every day that the trains do not run.
In the meantime, Prasarana is using feeder buses to help shuttle affected commuters. – Malaysiakini