Public transport operator Rapid KL has announced that all of its train services will commence operations from 4:30 am on Merdeka Day, 31 August 2022. These include the Ampang, Sri Petaling and Kelana Jaya LRT lines, the Kajang and Putrajaya MRT lines, as well as the KL monorail line.
Prior to this, Dang Wangi district police chief ACP Noor Dellhan Yahaya is advising those attending the Merdeka Day celebrations at Dataran Merdeka to use public transport as several roads will be closed for the event. More specifically, he said a total of eight roads surrounding the location will be inaccessible and diverted for safety purposes.
Waktu operasi tren sempena Hari Kebangsaan akan bermula pada 4:30 pagi.
Ayuh #KeluargaMalaysia, jom gunakan pengangkutan awam pada 31 Ogos untuk pergi ke Dataran Merdeka (atau ke mana-mana sahaja).
Sila rujuk poster untuk maklumat lanjut.#RapidKL #KamiBawaAnda pic.twitter.com/MGChNeUMPW
— Ask Rapid KL (@askrapidkl) August 23, 2022
According to the schedule that was shared by the company on its social media channels earlier today, all trains will have a frequency of 15 minutes until 6 am on the same day. Moving forward, frequencies will then proceed as per usual until the end of operations at 11:30 pm onwards.
Having its public transport services available past midnight for those celebrating Merdeka Day at locations such as Dataran Merdeka isn’t something new for the operator. However, this is definitely the first time for Rapid KL to have all of its trains to start operations at an earlier time. On that note, previous national day celebrations before the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in 2020 and 2021 saw the company extend the operating hours of its train services until 1:30 am. Rapid KL did not explain why it had decided to go for a different approach this time around.
The upcoming national holiday will also be the first time in two years that Malaysians are allowed to celebrate the occasion en masse and in public. That being said, expect the trains and stations (especially those located close to Dataran Merdeka) to be more crowded than usual during the evening of 30th August, as well as the early morning of the next day when services resume operations at 4:30 am.
