KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — Prasarana Malaysia Berhad is budgeting RM2.8 billion to fix its disruption-prone Kelana Jaya light rail transit (LRT) line over a five-year period, a Malay newspaper reported today.

Mingguan Malaysia cited Prasarana president and chief executive officer Azharuddin Mat Sah as saying that improvements to the 24-year-old transportation line will include an upgrade for its automatic train control (ATC) system and the addition of 27 new trains.

"All those improvements should have been done two or three years ago because the Kelana Jaya Line has become old and is a necessity for public transport in the Klang Valley,” he was quoted as saying.

Azharuddin said that upgrades to the ATC — involving two phases costing RM150 million and RM210 million respectively — is the company’s "most important plan” to prevent a repeat of the collision that happened on May 24 last year near the KLCC underground station that injured 218 passengers.

The new trains will be added between July and December 2024 and are expected to cost RM1.7 billion, while maintenance for 35 existing "train sets” will cost RM800 million.

Azharuddin was also quoted as saying that the maintenance and addition of trains was important to increase the frequency of trains to every three minutes.

"The Kelana Jaya train line is very busy, especially during peak hours. So a study is being done to meet demand ahead of 2030,” he reportedly said.

He also gave an assurance to improve other station infrastructure including its lifts, escalators, lights and the fix leaks.

He said Prasarana is considering adding a sensor system that would collect train movement data to predict problems ahead of time.

Last Thursday, Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced that there will be occasional disruptions on the Kelana Jaya LRT line as the train system undergoes rehabilitation.

The Kelana Jaya LRT line experienced operational disruption for several days, which was reportedly caused by an ATC malfunction.