LRT Ampang Line to get new trains in 2015

KUALA LUMPUR: Prasarana Malaysia Bhd will be replacing the current fleet of six-car trains serving the LRT Ampang Line in 2015.

In a statement on Tuesday, the group said a total of 30 six-car trains or Light Rail Vehicles would be procured from China's train manufacturer CSR Zuzhou Electric Locomotive Co Ltd, which is also contracted to supply and deliver another 20 sets under the Ampang Line LRT Line Extension Project.

Under the agreement signed on Tuesday, the new trains would be delivered in stages with the first of the 30 trains to be delivered in May 2015 and scheduled to be on line at end of July 2015.

Apart from enhanced safety features like closed circuit TV, emergency breakable window, emergency ventilation fan, fire and smoke detection system and supervised automatic train operation system (SATO), the new trains would also provide better travelling experience for commuters with installation of interactive destination display inside the train, non-slipping seats, LCD infotainment and a more spacious wheel chair space for the physically-challenged.

Introduced into operations in 1996, the RapidKL LRT Ampang Line originated as the Star-SRT services, which was taken over by Prasarana in 2002 along with the Putra-LRT services, which was rebranded as RapidKL LRT Kelana Jaya Line.

Like RapidKL LRT Ampang Line, the Kelana Jaya Line, which commenced operations in 1998 under the previous management, is also undergoing similar transformation exercise with a line extension project, purchase of new trains and a special programme to refurbish the existing sets.