SUBANG, 9 Nov 2022:
Suspension of the light rail transit (LRT) service between the Kelana Jaya and Ampang Park stations for up to seven days from today (Nov 9-15) is due to faulty communications between the driverless trains and the automatic train control centre (ATC).
Prasarana Malaysia Bhd president and group chief executive officer Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah today apologised for this LRT service disruption and expressed hope that once experts are able to trace the root cause of the ATC problem, train services may resume earlier.
Speaking at a press conference, Azharuddin said the ATC problem had begun on Saturday Nov 5 and the various fixes deployed by Prasarana wholly-owned subsidiary Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd had lasted only a few hours – causing further disruptions to the LRT services on both Monday and Tuesday (yesterday).
Without the ATC functioning properly, the driverless trains on the Kelana Jaya line will be moving without any human control whatsoever – unleashing the potential for runaway trains that threaten the safety of passengers and also commuters waiting at train platforms.
This problem is affecting 16 stations – which are among the oldest in operation since the Kelana Jaya line began services over two decades ago for the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
Azharuddin explained the seven days is to allow for enough time needed to identify the cause of the ATC service disruption and is being assisted by a special team from original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Thales Group from Toronto, Canada. These experts are due to arrive by tomorrow.
While the electronic components related to the ATC for the remaining stations remain operational, he said LRT services from the Gombak Station to Damai Station and from the Lembah Subang Station to Putra Heights Station will end an hour earlier at 11pm during this one-week period.
In the meantime, 69 free bus services have been deployed as of this morning with up to 85 ready to be put into operation to cover the routes between the affected LRT stations.
“This is a serious problem that has never happened before.We’re looking at an interim solution to continue operating the LRT services as approval was given last month (October) to replace the entire ATC system at a cost of around RM151 million,” said Azharuddin.
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