4PAM president Ajit Johl criticised Prasarana for saying the disruption only occurred because the power line had tripped.
“The explanation given by the operator is inadequate. There has to be a reason why the power line tripped. Was this due to a lack of maintenance, or sheer carelessness?” Ajit asked in a statement today.
Ajit also said their evacuation plan, which resulted in passengers being ushered out of the train to walk along the train tracks, was unacceptable.
“There has to be a better evacuation plan in emergencies. It was sheer luck that nobody was injured.
“These incidents highlight the weaknesses in the safety measures. To have two incidents in a week simply magnifies the issue,” he said, urging Prasarana to conduct more safety checks.
“Do we have to wait for another crane tragedy to repeat itself before the relevant authorities step in?” he added, referring to the recent accident in which Joice Chin Khoon Sing was killed a week before her 24th birthday when the hook of a construction crane fell from 20 storeys onto her car as she was stuck in traffic in Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur.
Ajit also slammed Prasarana for announcing that all LRT users would be entitled to three days of free rides as merely an attempt to “allay the fear in users.”
4PAM urged Prasarana to open their maintenance records to public scrutiny and form an independent committee comprising of all its stakeholders to investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai raised his concerns about the incident, with a tweet this evening calling for RapidKL to explain the railway’s breakdown.
“@MyRapidKL should explain LRT breakdown this morning. Concerned abt recent disruptions. Two breakdowns in a week is very worrying,” Liow tweeted.
Earlier this morning, it was reported that an LRT train had come to a complete stop during the office rush hour traffic and a downpour.
The incident reportedly occurred at about 9.10am, resulting in passengers being stuck in the coach for 20 minutes. They were then ushered out of the train by LRT staff, and were instructed to walk on the tracks to the nearest station.
Service resumed at 11.45am.
This is the second time in three days that LRT services have broken down, with both incidents occurring on the Kelana Jaya Line. On Wednesday, the LRT service was disrupted following a glitch in the signalling and communications system.