PETALING JAYA: Nearly three decades after his late father helped prepare Malaysia's first driverless urban rail system for service, maintenance engineer Emir Irfan Mohd Zufri found himself following the same path, this time helping bring the newly opened LRT3 to life.
The 32-year-old shared the remarkable father-and-son journey in a Threads post, juxtaposing two photographs taken almost 30 years apart.
One showed his late father aboard Vancouver's SkyTrain in 1997 during testing and commissioning (T&C) training ahead of the launch of the former Putra LRT, now the Kelana Jaya Line.
The other photo captured Emir aboard an LRT3 train during its own T&C phase before the line opened.
Emir, from Shah Alam, said his father travelled to Vancouver in 1997 before the Kelana Jaya Line began operations in 1998.
"Repeating the same story.
"I had to follow the train through various testing and commissioning exercises to understand the system for maintenance.
"There was a lot to learn," he wrote.
His father spent 25 years in the rail industry, starting as an operations planner at the Kelana Jaya Line's Operations Control Centre before rising to manager. Before retiring in 2021, he oversaw the line's revenue system and was involved in the early stages of the LRT3 project.
"My late father never got the chance to see LRT3 completed, even though he was involved from the early stages of the project before retiring in 2021," Emir said.
Emir joined the rail industry as a maintenance engineer in late 2020, first working on the MRT Putrajaya Line before moving to the LRT3 project in 2023.
"When my father was still around, he would often ask about the LRT3's progress.
"It felt like I was reporting back to my bosses every time he asked," he recalled.
Although he grew up watching his father's career, Emir said he never expected to follow in his footsteps as he had studied automotive engineering.
"With this change in career, I'm learning new things and doing my best with the team for the people," he said.
The post resonated with many social media users, who described it as a touching tribute to the generations of engineers and technicians who have helped build Malaysia's urban rail network.
The LRT3 line, linking Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Klang, officially opened on Sunday and recorded 60,000 passenger trips on its first day of service.
