If you frequently use the Rapid Rail services in Klang Valley to commute, odds are you’ve stumbled across broken facilities in its stations, be it the MRT, LRT or Monorail.
However, things are starting to get better, especially since new initiatives were introduced by the Transport Ministry (MOT) and Prasana Malaysia Berhad, the parent company of Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd.
For illustration purposes
One of the initiatives includes more transparency regarding the facilities’ conditions and ongoing repair works at Rapid Rail stations.
On 15 May 2023, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook announced that Prasarana start making public the weekly updates sent to MOT, so that commuters can see the key areas of its rail and bus services.
Accordingly, since 15 May, you can visit Prasarana’s official website to see both Rapid Rail and Rapid Bus’ performance updates, which include ridership, load factor, service reliability (Mean Kilometers Between Failures, MKBF), service availability, and facility updates.
Now, for the first time since the data was made public, MRT stations record 100% operation for its escalators facilities as of 7 August 2023; one of the facilities that yielded one of the most complaints from the public.
The MRT service includes the Kajang and Putrajaya lines, involving a total of 553 escalators. Based on the same report as of 7 August, the LRT Ampang Line’s escalators operation is at 98.9%, LRT Kelana Jaya line at 98.1% and the Monorail line at 95%.
The MRT Kajang line finally achieved 100% escalator operation after 1 faulty escalator was repaired while the MRT Putrajaya line is flawless. LRT Ampang line is targeting full escalators operation by October, LRT Kelana Jaya line by mid-August and the Monorail line by the end of September.
For reference, when the data was first made public on 15 May, the MRT Putrajaya line recorded 100% escalators operation while the MRT Kajang line was at 96.7%.
Well, this is definitely a good start and making the data public is one of the best things the company has done in a while to improve commuters’ trust. Let’s hope that Rapid Rail continues to improve its facilities and make the lives of all commuters better!
