I’m amused that it took so long for the government to realise that the city rail services (LRT and the KTM Komuter trains) that are supposed to serve the seven-million odd residents in the Klang Valley conurbation are not serving their purpose, leaving most of train users dissatisfied with services.

The LRT lines have been built more than a decade ago. If you were to ask the majority of rail users, most would agree with the prime minister that the routes are not comprehensive and the existing service not systematic.

The routes for the Sri Petaling Line and Ampang Line have been so poorly planned with low ridership even up till today. The Kelana Jaya line, though often packed, also suffers from such a problem with stations being built at areas with poor ridership.

For instance, the government has built a station in the largely unpopulated area of Abdullah Hukum, when it should have been built at Mid-Valley which is a major commercial and business centre.

Currently, thousands of daily train users have to switch trains at KL Sentral in order to get to Mid-Valley. Imagine the amount of time and money which could have been saved if the station was originally built at Mid-Valley in the first place.

And now, after a decade of causing inconvenience to the public, the authorities have decided to build a sky bridge linking Abdullah Hukum to Mid-Valley, which is another wastage of public funds.

Train stations should only be built when there is sufficient demand, and they should be built with the purpose of bringing convenience to the public at large. The Kelana Jaya and Bangsar LRT stations have been built in location that are considered not strategic, resulting in train users living in residential areas having to drive to these stations and park before riding the trains.

Something is very wrong when so many users need to drive to the station (Kelana Jaya and Bangsar LRT stations) in order to ride the train.

What are the reasons for the frequent delays experienced by LRT and Komuter train users? Why are technical glitches always happening? Are the people employed to run these rail companies (from the technician to the top management) competent and efficient?

Why are the trains, especially the Komuter trains, moving at such a slow pace? At how many km/hour are these trains moving? Could these trains move a little faster? What are the concrete steps taken by these rail companies to improve the services?

It is obvious that there was little consultation from the public when the routes were planned. Due to poor planning, the lines suffer from low ridership and as a result, these rail companies which are supposed to be making huge profits (as in the case of the super efficient Hong Kong MTR and Singapore MRT) have been making huge losses instead.

Hence, these rail companies do not have sufficient funds to improve the existing services, let alone extend their coverage to the many areas in the Klang Valley that have still not been serviced.

To sum up, the LRT and Komuter lines in the Klang Valley have been a failure, for they have not met the expectations of train users in providing them an efficient and enjoyable ride.

We do not want to hear any more explanations for the poor quality of service that we have gone through for over a decade. Let’s hope that proper and comprehensive planning, consultation and research are made before future line expansions are built.