PASSENGERS have fallen onto the tracks at Klang Valley’s LRT stations at least four times since April, yet physical platform barriers across the network remain stuck at the pilot stage.
The most recent incident occurred on Sept 22, when a passenger was believed to have fainted and fallen onto the tracks at Wangsa Maju station during morning peak hours.
Rapid KL said its Platform Intrusion Emergency Stop (PIES) system activated automatically, cutting power temporarily to allow station personnel to rescue the passenger, who was subsequently sent for medical treatment.
The incident, which caused a brief delay on the Kelana Jaya Line, followed similar track falls at Abdullah Hukum station in April, Hang Tuah station in July and Gombak station in August.
There have also been fatalities. In February 2025, a visually impaired passenger died after falling and being hit by an oncoming train at Titiwangsa station.
Four months later, a Taiwanese national died after falling at the Pusat Bandar Puchong station.
Following the latter incident, Transport Ministry directed the immediate installation of platform screen doors across older LRT stations.
The programme is now taking physical shape.
Putra Heights was selected as the first station for platform safety barriers, with work beginning on Aug 1.
Installation was 85% complete by Sept 26, but no new updates have been given since.
As an interchange between the Kelana Jaya and Ampang/Sri Petaling lines, it is being used to test and refine the design, installation methods and operational aspects before work is extended to other stations.
That is a sensible approach for a complex retrofit.
The test will be whether the lessons from Putra Heights translate into a rapid rollout elsewhere.
Phase One is not expected to be completed until the middle of 2027 and that is still several months away.
The KL Monorail experience provides a caution. Automatic platform gates (APG) were installed as early as 2016, but technical and signalling problems prevented them operating properly for years.
In 2024, the government allocated additional funds to complete the APG work at all 11 stations.
The LRT safety programme should learn from that experience.
Installation, integration, testing and operational readiness need to be managed as a single, unified safety initiative.
Clear milestones and public reporting should show not only where barriers are being installed, but where they are fully operational and active.
Speed matters too, because delay carries a wider cost.
Each track fall requires power to be cut, trains to be held and services disrupted, affecting thousands of commuters.
Lost working time and disrupted journeys may not appear in the installation budget, but they are costs nonetheless.
Repeated disruptions can also erode commuter confidence in the reliability of the transit system.
PIES remains an important last line of defence when someone enters the track area.
Physical barriers provide another layer of protection by preventing access to the tracks in the first place.
The installation programme now needs to move rapidly beyond one station, without losing momentum through technical delays.
There have already been too many falls, disruptions and fatalities. Platform safety must remain on track.
SHING SI YAN
Kuala Lumpur
