KUALA LUMPUR – Prasarana Malaysia Bhd has implemented five short-term measures from the 23 proposals aimed at improving the operations of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Kelana Jaya line following the collision of two trains in May.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said the five measures recommended by his ministry’s (MoT) investigation committee were completed within the required three-month period as stipulated.
“This includes the posting of two hostlers (drivers), with one acting as safety and compliance officer, for all manual train operations within tunnels,” he said in a statement today.
Wee had earlier visited the Rapid Rail Subang Complex and received the latest updates on the implementation of the 23 proposed improvements.
According to him, each driver has now been supplied with high-powered flashlights and checklists provided by the Operation Control Centre for manual operation and in critical situations.
He said other improvements include the setting up of the Sighting Committee to perform audits on track markers and the Safety Committee to report safety audits to senior management of Prasarana and Rapid Rail.
Wee said Rapid Rail, as the operator of the Prasarana rail services, also reported good progress in the implementation of 11 medium-term measures, which must be implemented within three to six months.
“We are pleased to announce that 73% of the relevant works have been completed and are expected to meet the December 9 deadline.
“As for the remaining seven long-term measures, Prasarana is working with its stakeholders and relevant authorities such as the Land Public Transport Agency to implement them progressively as some of them require additional investment and technical expertise from various quarters,” he said.
Wee was also satisfied with Prasarana’s performance in driving Rapid Rail to implement additional improvements, including limiting the maximum speed of any manually driven train to 20 km/h and increasing the frequency of competency training for hostlers and control executives.
Additional measures put in place include increasing the Manual Route Reservation (Automatic Train Protection) and adding the Buffer Zone (Automatic Train Protection) to protect any train that loses its communication signals so approaching trains will stop at a further distance.
In the May 24 incident, two trains on the LRT Kelana Jaya line collided in an underground tunnel between the Kg Baru and KLCC stations. One train was carrying just the driver while the other had 213 passengers, 47 of whom suffered serious injuries and 166 sustained minor injuries in the crash. – Bernama, September 23, 2021
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