KUALA LUMPUR – The investigation into the Kelana Jaya Light Rail Transit Line collision here last month confirmed that critical procedures were overlooked, leading to the incident, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong.
In particular, he said, there was a lapse in communication between the hostler of Train 40 – which had broken down – and the operations control centre (OCC) when manning the faulty car to safety and releasing Train 81, which was carrying passengers.
The breakdown in communication was due to a combination of technical faults, he told a virtual press conference today.
Wee said one of the two Vehicle On-Board Communication (VOBC) systems on Train 40 was halted at 6.26pm on May 24, the day of the incident, after experiencing technical difficulties.
The train was then vacated of passengers and brought to the Lembah Subang depot for maintenance on Automated Train Operation (ATO) mode, after the back-up VOBC system kicked in.
“However, at 8.13pm, the second VOBC halted and lost communication with the OCC. As a fail-safe system, the train came to a complete stop,” said Wee, adding that the car stopped between the KLCC and Kg Baru stations.
He said a hostler was then called to manually reset both VOBC systems and drive Train 40 to the re-entry point near the Dang Wangi station – located after the Kg Baru station – in an attempt to reactivate the ATO mode.
“During the process of resetting both VOBCs and driving Train 40 manually to the re-entry point, both the hostler and OCC’s train controller overlooked critical procedures during the process.
“This inadvertently resulted in Train 40 being manually moved towards the KLCC station instead of south-bound towards the designated re-entry point at the Dang Wangi station.”
During this time, he said, Train 81, which was on the same track and carrying 213 passengers, was temporarily held back at the KLCC station to allow Train 40 to be ferried away.
The initially implemented Manual Route Reservation (MRR) was lifted prematurely, causing Train 81 to depart the KLCC station for the Kg Baru station without verification that Train 40 had been safely reset.
The crash sent 64 passengers to hospital – six of whom suffered serious injuries and were admitted to the intensive care unit.
Wee said all six have since been released from the ICU.
Hostler did not report location, OCC failed to double-check
Asked how the lapse in communication between the hostler and OCC could have happened, Wee said when manning Train 40, the driver did not report the track section numbers.
Doing so would have allowed the OCC to identify the exact location of the train and the direction it was heading in, he said.
“When this (reporting) did not happen, the OCC was not able to control the train,” he said, adding that those at the control centre should have also sought this information.
“If they want to cancel the MRR and allow Train 81 to move, the OCC must make sure the hostler has already completed his job and is moving in the right direction.
“Only then can the MRR be lifted, and Train 81 can resume its journey on ATO mode. You can’t just release Train 81 when another train is in the tunnel.”
Wee said the unfavourable conditions in the LRT tunnel could have also led to the Train 40 hostler being unable to identify the track section numbers.
Asked how both VOBC systems could have malfunctioned at the same time, he said it was a coincidence.
“I never said the VOBCs won’t malfunction. They will. But when both fail, we must get the hostler to reset the system and bring it to the next station at Dang Wangi before resetting the ATO. Instead, he went in the opposite direction.”
Transport Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Isham Ishak said the investigation committee found that train operator Prasarana Malaysia Bhd had conducted maintenance accordingly.
“We don’t see any discrepancies or anomalies in the trains. All the trains were well-kept, just that the SOPs were not followed thoroughly.”
The probe panel’s report, which was tabled to the cabinet yesterday, includes 23 short-, medium- and long-term recommendations for Prasarana and Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd to implement, to improve their rail system. – The Vibes, June 10, 2021
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