THE Railways Department will submit a report on the recent breakdown of the Kelana Jaya light rail transit (LRT) line to the Transport Ministry on Sept 24.
The department had been given two months to conduct investigations into the July 24 incident, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas told reporters at the Parliament lobby.
During the incident, trains on the Kelana Jaya line, formerly the Putra LRT line, stalled, leaving passengers stranded inside the coaches for at least 30 minutes.
Earlier, in reply to a question by Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (BN – Bintulu) during Question Time, Douglas said the cause of the LRT system breakdown was still being investigated.
Tiong then asked Douglas why the passengers could not contact the LRT control room when they were trapped inside the coaches.
“Why does the LRT not have an emergency rescue team to immediately help the stranded passengers?” he asked.
Douglas said the department required each rail transport company to have an Emergency Response Programme.
He said an emergency response team had been set up to take immediate action during an emergency. “But sometimes there is a delay. Maybe there is a management problem.”
Obviously unhappy with Douglas’ “we will investigate” answer earlier, Datuk Mohamed Aziz (BN – Sri Gading) kept repeating those words when another MP asked a supplementary question.
Mohamed kept saying, “The ministry will investigate, we will investigate” when Datuk Mohd Alwi Che Ahmad (BN – Ketereh) asked Douglas about a train delay at Sungai Besi near Kuala Lumpur early yesterday morning which he got to know of via an SMS from a passenger.
Douglas replied that he was not aware of the incident as he had come straight to Parliament.
“Looks like I do not have to answer since Sri Gading has answered for me,” he added.
