KLUANG, Nov 9 — The government has apologised to commuters of the Kelana Jaya Light Rail Transit (LRT) line for the inconvenience caused by the disruption of service due to a faulty Automated Train Control (ATC) system.

Caretaker transport minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said although LRT owner Prasarana Malaysia Bhd is a company under the Minister of Finance Incorporated, he also had to take responsibility for being a part of the government.

"As the minister, I need to listen to the views and findings of Prasarana because this is an operational issue.

"I have asked Prasarana to update the people at least once every three hours regarding the LRT disruption so that they (commuters) know the latest situation,” he said a press conference after attending a gathering involving caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and people of the Ayer Hitam parliamentary constituency in Taman Suria Ros near here today.

Wee said apart from staff of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Thales Group who were expected to arrive tomorrow, experts from Turkey and Canada would also be flown in to identify the main cause of the ATC malfunction.

"In a day or two, they (experts) need to identify the cause because it involves technical problems. They may also look into other aspects,” he added.

Wee has directed Transport Ministry secretary-general Datuk Isham Ishak, the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) and Prasarana to work out the best solution for the problem.

"It’s time for Prasarana to look into the schedule for periodic maintenance work, and they need to change to a system which is more dynamic and places greater priority on safety,” he said.

Yesterday, LRT operator Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd said an unstable ATC had been identified as the cause of service disruption on the Kelana Jaya LRT line on Saturday and Monday.

As a result, the LRT service between the Kelana Jaya and Ampang Park stations has been suspended for one week from 6am today, in the interest of passenger safety and to allow the authorities to identify the real cause of the problem.

However, LRT services between the Gombak and Damai stations, and between Lembah Subang and Putra Heights are still operating. — Bernama