Prasarana Malaysia Berhad is going to spend RM2.8 billion to fix its disruption-prone Kelana Jaya light trail transit (LRT) line over a five-year period.
According to Malay Mail, Prasarana president and CEO, Azharuddin Mat Sah said the automatic train control (ATC) system on the 24-year-old transportation line will be upgraded and 27 new trains will be added.
Photo via klia2.info
He told reporters that the Kelana Jaya Line is an essential part of Klang Valley public transportation and should have undergone all of those improvements two or three years ago.
Azharuddin stated that upgrading the ATC will involve two phases - costing RM150 million and RM210 million respectively - is the company’s "most important plan" to avoid a repeat of the collision that occurred on 24 May of last year near the KLCC underground station which injured 218 passengers.
The 35 existing "train sets" will need maintenance, which will cost RM800 million, while the new trains, which will be added between July and December 2024, are expected to cost RM1.7 billion.
Azharuddin was also quoted as saying that in order to increase the frequency of trains to every three minutes, maintenance and new train additions are indeed crucial.
The Kelana Jaya train line is currently extremely congested, especially at rush hour to meet the demand before 2030.
He stated that Prasarana is planning on installing a sensor system that would gather information on train movement in order to foresee issues ahead of time.
As the train system undergoes rehabilitation, the Kelana Jaya LRT line will occasionally experience delays, according to a statement made by Transport Minister Anthony Loke on Thursday (8 December).
