Prasarana will finally be giving the Kelana Jaya Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line a mid-life refurbishment. The upgrade works will cost RM 800 million and will take at least 6 months to complete.
The announcement came from Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong who told the media at a press conference the upgrading works involved level four maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) of 28 sets of 818 series trains.
The overhaul is a crucial step as it will help extend the life span of the trains.
But that’s not all, Dr Wee also revealed that the government would receive 19 new types of trains in the fourth quarter of 2023 for the Kelana Jaya route.
LRT users are to take note that during the maintenance period, which is expected to take 6 months, the Kelana Jaya Line trains will operate at a four-minute frequency instead of the usual 2.5-minute frequency.
The Kelana Jaya Line, more commonly referred to as KJ Line, is a popular route servicing 350,000 passengers a day. The number of passengers is expected to increase when phase 1 of the Putrajaya Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line begins operation next month (16-June-2022).
According to Dr Wee, the KJ Line has been experiencing issues since 2-May-2022 with four of the disruptions happening during peak hours and affecting over 22,000 passengers. As of today (27-May-2022), the KJ Line has experienced 4 major issues in 6 days.
Dr Wee also revealed that from the data obtained, the disruption is due to several factors, especially the ‘tachometer’ problem which accounts for 47 percent of the total cases, electronic unit 32 percent, antennas six percent and other problems 15 percent.
Therefore, Prasarana will allocate RM 5 million of the upgrading cost into replacing 140 tachometers.
As for the power supply issue at two Traction Power Sub Stations (TPSS) at the Kelana Jaya Station and Universiti Station, Dr Wee revealed that more investigations are required after initial findings found technical errors.