Petaling Jaya, 29th  July 2008 - From 6am to 3.30pm today, RapidKL’s Kelana Jaya LRT Line encountered track system problems between Gombak and Setiawangsa station. The technical glitch caused the fail-safety feature to be activated which disabled the automated driving feature of the automated LRT service on the Kelana Jaya Line.

During the disruption period, the trains were manually driven between Gombak and Setiawangsa stations, by RapidKL trained personnel. In order to ensure safety and security of the LRT operations, LRT trains are manually driven at slower speeds as compared to the normal automated driving mode. As a result, the speed of the LRT trains throughout the Kelana Jaya Line was reduced.

Rangkaian Pengangkutan Integrasi Deras Sdn Bhd (RapidKL) General Manager for Communications Division, Ebi Azly Abdullah said in a fully automated system, the tolerance level of the fail-safety feature is tight and any disruption in the system will cause the automated features of the system to stop.

“The trains at the affected stretches would be driven manually with adherence to a stringent set of operating procedures.” he said in a statement issued here, today.

As the safety of the passengers is of utmost importance, RapidKL maintains very stringent standards in ensuring that the automated driving system is deactivated immediately once there is any indication of inconsistency to the safety standards.

He said RapidKL’s priority is to reduce the level of inconvenience faced by the commuters and to ensure that they are able to reach their destination as soon as possible.

Among immediate measures taken during the distruption include:

• Frequent public announcements over the PA system at stations and in the LRT to update the commuters of the delays.
• Deployment of a total of 22 buses with extended routes at affected stations to provide an alternative mode of transport to the commuters.

The Ampang Line of the LRT network was not affected by the disruption and service was operating as normal.

RapidKL apologises to all our commuters for the inconvenience caused and seek their cooperation in appreciating the high level of operational safety procedures employed by the public transport company.

Notes to Editors:

Rangkaian Pengangkutan Integrasi Deras Sdn. Bhd (RapidKL), a wholly owned company under the Minister of Finance Incorporated is tasked in providing an integrated public transport system in the Klang Valley incorporating rail and bus services.  Incorporated in July 2004 and operational since November the same year, RapidKL today transports approximately 4 million passengers weekly: 2.1 million on the Ampang Line and Kelana Jaya Line and 1.9 million on the bus system.  Rapid KL provides services across 48 rail stations and 165 bus routes.