KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 — Trains "disappearing” from the monitoring screen of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) operation and control centre was the first sign that something was amiss with the Kelana Jaya LRT signalling system on Tuesday evening, said Prasarana Malaysia today.

According to a report by The Star, CEO Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah made the comments as part of the group’s press conference offering daily updates on ongoing efforts to solve the breakdown along a stretch of the Kelana Jaya LRT line involving 16 stations — from Kelana Jaya to Ampang Park.

"The trains were unable to move automatically, which indicates a problem.

"We could not see the trains on our screens, and that is very important for us.

"As an accountable organisation, we had to make the very tough call to suspend operations (for a week starting Nov 9). We acknowledge it greatly inconvenienced many, but we certainly do not want any recurrence of May 2021’s incident (where two trains, one driven manually, collided head-on in the tunnel between Kampung Baru and KLCC),” he was quoted as saying.

Azharuddin also said that Rapid KL engineers ran a train between Ampang Park and KLCC at 10pm last night to generate data for analysis.

"The original equipment manufacturer of the train signalling system, Thales Group, will examine the test logs tonight,” he added.

Azharuddin added that Rapid Rail engineers have performed software updates, swapped modems, and replaced power supply components, as they attempt to narrow down the source of the intermittent loss of signalling.

Yesterday, public transport provider Rapid KL announced that it was temporarily suspending operations at 16 stations on the Kelana Jaya LRT Line for one week from November 9 to 15.

An unspecified technical issue during rush hour on Tuesday evening left thousands of commuters stranded.