LRT service breaks down during peak hour

KUALA LUMPUR: Light Rail Transit (LRT) users were stuck at stations for at least two hours due to a disruption in service since 5pm Wednesday.

Rapid KL's Twitter account (@MyRapidKL) stated on 5.29pm that a delay had occurred on the Kelana Jaya Line due to traction power loss in some areas due to lightning.

MyRapidKL tweeted around 5.52pm that power had been restored in the affected areas and that normal service had resumed.

A tweet posted by MyRapidKL at 6.20pm stated that "a train lost its door status and unable to be moved at Tmn Melati. Expected delay is 10mins."

Another update was posted at 6.33pm, explaining that the failed train had been removed from service.

MyRapidKL tweeted an update at 7.15pm, saying "KJ Line status update : Service is normal".

Stranded LRT users have been expressing their anger on Twitter over the delay in train services.

Muhammad Adeeb Palil (@wehdeeb) tweeted "Bad day today, stuck in KL Sentral, broken LRT should just bring my motorbike."

Another user Nico Mulyawan (@ocinisme) tweeted "LRT super jammed. Stuck for 2-3 minutes on every stops."

Lim Jin Aun, spokesman from Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad, operator of the LRT, later clarified that there were two unrelated incidents that interrupted the services of the Kelana Jaya line Wednesday evening.

"During the first incident at approximately 5.15pm, we experienced loss of traction power at several areas due to lightning. Normal service resumed within 35 minutes.

"However, at approximately 6.20pm, one of our trains experienced technical faults near Taman Melati. The service was normalised in 10 minutes," said Lim.

Prasarana also apologised to commuters affected by the disruption.

"We sincerely apologise to our commuters for the inconvenience caused. Until this evening, the Kelana Jaya Line service reliability has been rated at 99.8% in 2013," said Lim.