by ADRIAN PHUNG / Pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

COMING up with a holistic solution for the ongoing disruptions caused by the light rail transit (LRT) system will be among Pakatan Harapan’s top priority if the coalition wins the 15th General Election (GE15) on Nov 19, former Transport Minister Anthony Loke said.

Loke highlighted that LRT plays an important role for the public transport system in Kuala Lumpur as each day more than 300,000 public rely on it as their main mode of transportation.

“As such, a safe and reliable public transport system is very important for a city.

“However, in the past one year, the system often faces disruptions and each disruption last for few hours causing various inconvenience to the public who rely on it as their main mode of transportation.

“Therefore, an overhaul of the system should be the top priority for any stakeholders and it will also be the focal point for the coalition if we win GE15 on Nov 19 where we will try to fix this problem as soon as possible,” Loke said during his GE15 campaign walkabout today.

Earlier today, LRT rail operator Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd have temporarily suspended the LRT services for 16 stations along its Kelana Jaya Line due to disruption cause by the electronic components of the automatic train control system.

Among the affected stations are Kelana Jaya, Taman Bahagia, Taman Paramount, Asia Jaya, Taman Jaya, Universiti, Kerinchi, Bangsar, Abdullah Hukum, KL Sentral, Pasar Seni, Masjid Jamek, Dang Wangi, Kampung Baru, KLCC and Ampang Park.

The suspension is effective from today until Nov 15.

All rail services its other stations along the line for would also be ending at 11pm to enable the engineering team to carry out the necessary rectification and repair work.

Commenting further, Loke said the suspension is one of the most serious incidents for the public transport system.

“We can clearly see that the problem now lies within the system itself, hence, the government should put more focus and resources to fix this as now the main problem no longer about insufficient trains.

“At the same time, Rapid Rail should also increase the bus frequency and comes up with adequate compensation for their monthly pass users,” he added.