Rapid KL’s LRT services of late has been the centre of focus for city dwellers in Klang Valley as for most it is their most cost efficient mode of transportation to and from work or to simply just get around.
Yesterday in a press statement, Prasarana, the operators of Rapid KL and Rapid Rail acknowledged the recent disruption in service stating the most recent incidents from the 5th to 7th November due to a faulty Automatic Train Control (ATC) unit which cause disruption in services during peak hours between the Kelana Jaya to Ampang Park route involving 16 stops in total and services were back to normal.
However, many commuters were caught off-guard once again yesterday evening when they were once again left stranded with closed off LRT stations in these 16 locations. According to Prasarana, the ATC issue was once again detected at 3.03pm 8th November resulting in service suspension but this was not well communicated to travellers even from feeder bus drivers catching many my surprise once again.
Free bus services were deployed but the volume of LRT users outnumbers the capacity the buses are able to transport.
In the most recent tweet from RapidKL earlier this morning, there is confirmation that the Kelana Jaya to Ampang Park LRT line would be closed off from today 9th up to 15th November 2022 to facilitate rectification works.
The 2 active LRT lines as of now are the Putra Heights to Lembah Subang lines and Damai to Gombak lines. These two lines would be operational until 11pm daily.
For those opting to use the free feeder bus services you are advised to check for the busses live locations via its designated links as per below to make your travel smoother. These feeder buses would be operational up to 12 am daily.
CH01 LRT Ara Damansara ~ Pasar Seni - https://t.co/NxwQFWZ0j4
CH02 LRT Ara Damansara ~ LRT Kelana Jaya - https://t.co/WhUmvWPfzp
SH01 LRT Kelana Jaya ~ Pasar - https://t.co/OjGJ6UbWAN
SH02 Masjid Jamek ~ Pasar Seni - https://t.co/lv95IrNiH7
SH03 LRT Dato Keramat ~ Masjid Jamek - https://t.co/0zWYzU1q6I
However as mentioned earlier, the volume of LRT passengers that would need to be transported is far more than the free buses could handle should you be pressing for time therefore its best to make other transportation arrangements during this period. A tweet from user @mr_jekger below clearly shows the crowd waiting for the bus at one of the LRT stations involved.
On another note, there have been calls from the general public for action to be taken on Rapid KL for not fulfilling the service obligations as they should. A case highlighted was the fine of SGD1.1 million (RM3.7 million) slapped on to Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) in 2013 by the Singapore court for 10 months of service delay.