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KUALA LUMPUR – Seven days of continuous disruptions to the LRT’s operations is unacceptable and warrants the resignation of Rapid Rail CEO Amir Hamdan, said PKR communications director Lee Chean Chung.
In a statement today, the PKR candidate for Petaling Jaya said the latest incident is not the first time the LRT faced such technical failures.
He cited a series of instances involving LRT service disruptions, including:
September 10, 2022 – An LRT train was reportedly disrupted due to a technical issue at around 9pm.
July 27, 2022 – Trains were reportedly disrupted around 12.48pm, involving 11 stations from LRT Station Bandar Tun Razak to LRT Station Pusat Bandar Puchong.
May 24, 2022 – Temporary disruption of the Taman Jaya and Universiti stations due to a power supply failure involving two power stations and the Traction Power substation.
July 22, 2021 – Two LRT trains on the Kelana Jaya line faced braking problems at the Universiti and Setiawangsa stations.
May 24, 2021 – This catastrophic incident saw hundreds of rail users injured as a result of a collision of two LRT trains nearing the Kg Baru station. 47 suffered serious injuries and another 166 from light injuries.
The above events, he said, have yet to include numerous incidents that reportedly occurred in 2017, 2015, 2008, 2007, and 2006.
Relating to the latest incident, he noted Rapid Rail has since informed the public that the issue stems from the instability of the automatic train control system (ATC).
“As such, trains had to be operated manually between the KLCC and Ampang Park stations.
“This caused a ripple effect down the entire route system because it affected the entire service schedule of the Kelana Jaya line.
“We understand that a device of the ATC malfunctioned. This explanation, however, still falls far from accounting for the entirety of the failure,” he said.
Describing the explanation as merely cosmetic, Lee said it fails to shed light on the long-term solution, and could be seen as an attempt to mask the incompetence of LRT’s operations.
“The disruption remains an enigma to all of us.”
As such, Lee said, one should inevitably ask why repair and maintenance works fail to prevent such serious breakdowns.
“Have Rapid Rail and Prasarana not reflected on its previous incidents?”
In addition to calling for the resignation of Rapid Rail’s CEO, Lee called on a third party to conduct a technical audit to probe into the root cause of the series of disruptions.
“If the escalators in LRT stations take months to repair, the public has the right to know the truth of the situation.
“If such disruptions are discovered to have been avoidable, Rapid Rail and MyRapid should be slapped with hefty fines.
“For instance, (Singaporean MRT operator) SMRT was imposed with a fine of RM17 million due to its negligence,” he added. – The Vibes, November 9, 2022