Klang Valley commuters have been facing significant disruptions to their public transport commute since last month due to the closure of the route between Masjid Jamek and Bandaraya that resulted from damaged tracks. Now, Rapid KL has made another major announcement which is something that going to be another layer of inconvenience affecting the LRT between Sentul Timur and Bandaraya.
While the route is still in operation, the train frequency between Sentul Timur and Bandaraya has now been severely reduced to just every 12 minutes, including during peak hours. Rapid KL said that members of the rail operations, auxiliary police personnel, and Troopers will be placed at the affected stations to control the movement of passengers in the stations and platforms.
The reason for this seems to be a knock-on effect of the Ampang and Sri Petaling line disruption. Since 27 January, a total of five trains ran between the two stations but because of the track damage near Bandaraya, they could not return to the Ampang LRT Depot for maintenance work. This has resulted in three trains being removed because they no longer met operational criteria, leaving only two trains left.
To minimise congestion at the affected stations, Rapid KL is deploying a total of 10 shuttle bus services between the affected stations with a frequency of 10 to 15 minutes. The buses will stop at the Sentul Timur, Sentul, Titiwangsa, PWTC, Sultan Ismail, and Bandaraya stations, with the entire journey expected to take 30 minutes, so commuters are advised to plan their journey accordingly.
Perkhidmatan Alternatif Laluan Ampang /Sri Petaling & Bas Perantara Percuma.
Penumpang boleh menaiki bas Rapid KL yang memaparkan 002 Sewa Khas pada skrin di hadapan bas. Sila rujuk poster di bawah untuk maklumat lanjut. pic.twitter.com/52bAc9q2Pz
— Ask Rapid KL (@askrapidkl) January 27, 2023
For those who need to continue going towards the Ampang/Putra Heights route, they will have to take the LRT 9 or LRT 10 shuttle buses at the Bandaraya bus hub. At the moment, it is unclear when the Sentul Timur-Bandaraya route will return to normal operations.
As for the Ampang and Sri Petaling line as a whole, travellers will have to endure the reduced frequency for longer than expected. Transport Minister Anthony Loke revealed this week that it will take Prasarana seven months to complete the repair and renovation works to fix the damage, with the project set to begin in early March.
(Source: Rapid KL)
