Kelana Jaya Line

The Kelana Jaya Line (coloured pink on the Kuala Lumpur transit map) is one of the two light rail transit lines in the Kuala Lumpur Rail Transit System operated by RapidKL Rail network. The other rail network is the Ampang Line.

The Kelana Jaya Line was formerly known as PUTRA Line LRT system or simply PUTRA LRT ("PUTRA" stood for "Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd", the company which developed and operated it).

History

The first operation of Kelana Jaya Line commenced on September 1, 1998 between Subang Depot to Pasar Seni and phase two, between Pasar Seni to Terminal Putra in June 1999.

In 2002, the system carried its 150 millionth passenger, with an average of 160,000 passengers riding the system daily at that time [ [http://www.putralrt.com.my/rapidbus_kljlrt.htm Kelana Jaya Line (Formerly known as PUTRA Line)] ] . Today, it carries over 190,000 passengers a day and over 350,000 a day during national events. [ [http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1094372/rapidkl_puts_marketing_retail_space_on_fast_lane/index.html RapidKL Puts Marketing Retail Space on Fast Lane] ]

Chronology

*15 February 1994 - Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik (Putra LRT) was incorporated.
*1 September 1998 - Section 1 from Subang Depot to Pasar Seni commenced operation.
*1 June 1999 - Entire Putra LRT system opened as Section 2 from Pasar Seni to Terminal PUTRA commenced operation. The new section included Malaysia's first underground railway.
*1 September 2002 - Putra LRT comes under management of Syarikat Prasarana Negara and renamed "Putraline" under the first phase of the restructuring of Kuala Lumpur's public transport system. SPNB also takes over Star LRT and is renamed "Starline".
*November 2004 - Operational aspects of the two LRT systems is transferred to the newly-formed, government-owned Rapid KL under the second phase of the restructuring process. Ownership of their assets remain with SPNB.
*July 2005 - Name changed from Putraline to Kelana Jaya Line. Signage to be changed by 2006.
*24 July 2006 - Failure of the back-up computer to kick-in caused the system to stop functioning during the evening rush hour. Passengers were trapped in trains and some had to force open doors to get out.
*29 August 2006 - Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announces that this line will be extended from Lembah Subang to Subang Jaya and USJ.
*6 October 2006 - A "technical problem" caused a train to stall along the tracks between Dato Keramat and Damai stations at 7am, causing a shut-down of the Masjid Jamek-Terminal PUTRA stretch of the line. Normal service restored at 5pm.
*13 October 2006 - Syarikat Prasarana Negara signed an agreement with Bombardier-Hartasuma Consortium (BHC)for the purchase of 22 four-car train sets for the Kelana Jaya Line with an option to purchase an additional 13 train sets for RM1.2 billion. Trains to be delivered in 2008.
*12 December 2006 - An accident occurred during a peak hour as a train was approaching Pasar Seni LRT station. The train stopped abruptly as if it hit something. No casualties occurred.
*8 October 2007 - Syarikat Prasarana Negara purchased an additional 13 Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) MK II train sets (52 cars) for €71 million for the Kelana Jaya Line. Delivery of the train sets is expected to be in 2010. [ [http://www.bombardier.com/index.jsp?id=1_0&lang=en&file=/en/1_0/pressrelease.jsp%3Fgroup%3D1_0%26lan%3Den%26action%3Dview%26id%3D7744%26sCateg%3D1_0 Bombardier Press release on 71 Million Euro Order by SPNB] ]

The system

Line and stations

The Kelana Jaya Line consists of a single line from Kelana Jaya to Gombak that primarily serves the Petaling Jaya region to the south; southwest and central Kuala Lumpur, and Kuala Lumpur City Centre to the centre; and various low density residential areas further north in Kuala Lumpur. At 29 km in length, this line is the third longest fully-automated driverless metro system in the world, after the SkyTrain in Greater Vancouver, Canada (49.5 km) and the Lille Metro VAL in Lille, France (32 km).

Kelana Jaya Line's stations are given in a north-south direction, consists primarily of elevated stops and a handful of underground and at-grade stations. Of a total of 24 stations, 16 are elevated, and 5 stops between Pasar Seni and Ampang Park are underground. The only at-grade station, Sri Rampai, is currently incomplete and closed since a construction project it is supposed to serve has been halted. The Sri Rampai station is the only station in the line to be out of service.

The stations, like those of the Ampang Line, are styled in several types of architectural designs. Elevated stations, in most parts, were constructed in four major styles with distinctive roof designs for specific portions of the line. The KL Sentral station, added later, features a design more consistent with the Stesen Sentral station building. Underground stations, however, tend to feature unique concourse layout and vestibules, and feature floor-to-ceiling platform screen doors to prevent platform-to-track intrusions. 13 stations (including two terminal stations and the five subway stations) utillise a single island platform, while 11 others utilize two side platforms. Stations with island platforms allow easy interchange between north-bound and south-bound trains without requiring one to walk down/up to the concourse level.

Kelana Jaya Line stations were built to support disabled passengers, featuring elevators and wheelchair lifts alongside escalators and stairways between various levels of the stations. The stations in this line were also designed to have platform gaps smaller than 5 cm to allow easy access for the disabled and wheelchair users. They are able to achieve this with:
* Tracks that are non-ballasted, lessening rail and train movements.
* Trains that have direct rubber suspension, lessening train body movements.
* Trains that do not rapidly run through stations.
* Stations that have straight platforms.

The stations are currently the only rapid transit stations in the Klang Valley designed to provide a degree of accessibility for handicapped users.

Kelana Jaya Line stations also feature a limited number of closed-circuit security cameras for security purposes.

Rolling stock

The rolling stock of the Kelana Jaya Line, in use since the opening of the line in 1998, consists of a fleet of 35 Mark II Bombardier Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) trains [ [http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/kuala_lumpur/index.html Railway Technology - Kuala Lumpur Driverless Metro System, Malaysia] ] with related equipment and services supplied by the Bombardier Group. The ART trains consist of two-electric multiple units, which serve as either a driving car or trailer car depending on its direction of travel. The trains utilise linear motors and draw power from a third rail located at the side of the steel rails. The plating in between the running rails is used for accelerating and decelerating the train. The reaction plate is semi-magnetised, which pulls the train along as well as helps it to slow down.

The ART is essentially driverless, automated to travel along lines and stop at designated stations for a limited amount of time. Nevertheless, manual override control panels are provided at each end of the trains for use in an event of an emergency.

The interior of the ART, like its Ampang Line counterparts, simply consists of plastic seating aligned sideways towards the sides of the train, with spacing for passengers on wheelchair, and spacing in the middle for standing occupants. Since its launch in 1998, the ART rolling stock has remained relatively unchanged; only more holding straps have been added and the labelling has been modified from Putra-LRT to RapidKL.

On October 13, 2006, Syarikat Prasarana Negara signed an agreement with Bombardier Hartasuma Consortium for the purchase of 88 Mark II ART cars (22 train sets of 4-cars) with an option for another 13 for RM1.2 billion [ [http://www.prasarana.com.my/TheEdgeTamimi%5B131006%5D.html SPNB Homepage - SPNB in RM1.2b deal for 35 LRT trains] ] . The 22 train sets, to be delivered from August 2008 onwards, will have four cars each and will boost the carrying capacity of the fleet by 1,500 people. On October 8, 2007, "Syarikat Prasarana Negara" purchase an additional 52 Mark II ART cars (13 train sets of 4-cars) for €71 million, expected to be delivered in 2010.

Although the trains were expected to arrive in August 2008, the delivery was delayed to November 2008 by the manufacturer. RapidKL expects the rail will only be usable by September 2009 after having sufficient rolling stocks, power line upgrades and safety testing. [cite news| title=New trains for Kelana Jaya line will only be usable by Sept 2009| url= http://nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Frontpage/20080904151446/Article/index_html| publisher=New Straits Times| date=2008-09-04]

Criticisms

*Technical failuresDue to the system being driverless and almost fully computerised, there have been numerous occasions when systems failure have led to services being severely affected and at worse the whole line being closed. For example, the 24 July 2006Fact|date=February 2007 and 6 October 2006 incidents.Fact|date=February 2007

*Low capacityAlthough the system has been built to accommodate more carriages, currently only two carriages make the standard configuration of the train sets. This is notable given that trains are often overcrowded and that the Kelana Jaya Line is the most heavily used rail transport system in the Klang Valley.

*Route alignmentThe Kelana Jaya Line has been criticisedFact|date=February 2007 for not being aligned to stop at key locations, although the system passes through many places of interest. For example, the rarely used Abdullah Hukum station at Jalan Bangsar is located close to the busy Mid Valley development, but is separated by a squatter settlement and the Klang River. Many have criticised the abilities of the planners, in choosing the alignment the route, and placing a station at Abdullah Hukum as opposed to having one at Mid Valley, as both the LRT and Mid Valley development were planned and constructed at the same period.Fact|date=February 2007

The Kelana Jaya Line at its western end terminates public services at Kelana Jaya, although it extends a little further into Lembah Subang, near the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport where maintenance facilities are located. This maintenance facility is known as the Subang Depot. Many who|date=August 2008 have questioned why the line did not start in Subang Jaya, a massive township just a few kilometres south of Lembah Subang.Fact|date=February 2007

*Physical integrationLike every other mode of rail transport in Kuala Lumpur, physical integration between different lines is poor. Most notably is the Masjid Jamek interchange where the Kelana Jaya Line meets the Ampang Line. However, there are effective interchange at KL Sentral between separate modes of transport.

Extensions

On 29 August 2006, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak announced that the western end of the Kelana Jaya Line would be extended to the suburbs of Bandar Sunway, Subang Jaya and UEP Subang Jaya (USJ), which are located to the south-west of Kuala Lumpur. The extension will be part of a RM10 billion plan to expand Kuala Lumpur's public transport network.

The expansion plan will also see the Ampang Line extended to the suburb of Puchong and the south-west of Kuala Lumpur The plan also involved the construction of an entirely new line, tentatively called the Kota Damansara-Cheras Line, running from Kota Damansara in the western portion of the city, to Cheras which lies to the south-east of Kuala Lumpur.

On June 15, 2008, The Star, a local newspaper, revealed a 40km route that goes from Kota Damansara to Cheras. The alignment will run from Kota Damansara along Persiaran Surian to the Damansara-Puchong Expressway and then heading towards the city centre along the Sprint Expressway, through Bangsar Baru and Jalan Bangsar. It will then run parallel to the existing Kelana Jaya Line to KL Sentral, Pasar Seni and Masjid Jamek before heading to the Golden Triangle along Jalan Raja Chulan. The route will then pass Pasar Rakyat in Bukit Bintang and then Jalan Tun Razak where it will join Jalan Cheras. It will continue along the road and the Cheras-Kajang Expressway to the Balakong interchange near Cheras Batu 11. Construction was expected to begin end of 2008 and ready by 2012. [cite news| title=Kota Damasara-Cheras line right on track| url=http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/15/nation/21558681&sec=nation| Publisher=The Star| author=Leong Shen-Li| date=2008-06-15| accessdate|2008-06-15]

As of August 2008, the operator of the line, Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd , is running land and engineering study on the proposed extension. It is to believe that the construction will start once the study is complete. [Cite news| title= Two extra LRT lines being studied| url= http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/21/nation/20080821121505&sec=nation| publisher=The Star| author= Sim Leoi Leoi| date=2008-08-21

References

See also

* Ampang Line
* List of rapid transit systems
* List of driverless trains
* Rail transport in Malaysia
* Public transport in Kuala Lumpur
* Kuala Lumpur Monorail
* Kuala Lumpur Sentral

External links

* [http://www.rapidkl.com.my/ Rapid KL]
* [http://www.prasarana.com.my/ Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad]
* [http://www.xylogue.com/info/train-map/malaysia/putra-lrt-map1-front.htm Interactive Map of Kelana Jaya to KL Sentral Putra line (Internet Explorer only)]
*commons-inline|Kelana Jaya Line