PKR Communications director Lee Chean Chung is demanding the resignation of Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd's chief executive officer (CEO) Amir Hamdan over the recent halt in operations.

Lee said that Amir should take accountability for the seven-day continuous disruption of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) services.

"The LRT system is facing one of the worst disruptions in the history of our LRT trains. Our LRT is unserviceable for a week.

"This disruption caused serious difficulties and unbearable suffering for the thousands of rail users who are relying on its services," Lee (above) told a press conference at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya today.

He pointed out that when the disruption commenced on Saturday noon, it was reported that its services will be resumed latest by the next morning.

"However, it proceeded into Monday, Nov 7, and as a result of this failure, thousands were affected and many were trapped on the platforms.

"In addition, many rail users had to resort to buses whereby they were subjected to a waiting time that reached beyond hours, and the torrential downpour,” he added.

Lee said to replenish the public’s confidence in the country’s public transport and public agencies, the Rapid Rail CEO should resign due to such “severe negligence”.

"A third party should conduct a technical audit to probe into the root cause of the series of disruptions.

"If such disruptions are discovered to have been avoidable, Rapid Rail and MyRapid should be slapped with hefty fines. For instance, SMRT (Singaporean MRT operator) was imposed with a fine of RM17 million due to its negligence," he added.

Feeder buses

Prasarana Malaysia Berhad said it had to shut down 16 LRT stations along the Kelana Jaya-Ampang Park line due to a malfunction detected in the automatic train control system on Saturday.

The company has deployed up to 85 feeder buses to five different routes along the Kelana Jaya line to ferry commuters to their destinations as a temporary solution.

Prasarana president and group chief executive officer Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah said in a statement that Prasarana engineers have so far been unable to diagnose the root cause of the disruptions.

The company then decided that the best course of action was to temporarily halt the train services for the safety of passengers.

Not enough backup to cope - Bukit Gasing rep

Also at the PKR HQ today, Bukit Gasing assemblyperson Rajiv Rishyakaran was asked about initiatives in his constituency to deal with the breakdown in services.

He said that there was not enough backup to cope.

"At the very last minute, it's difficult to get extra buses. People will suffer this week and this is a strong reminder that we need resilience in our public transport and more options.

"Our manifesto talks about improving connectivity and the number of backup vehicles.”

Bukit Gasing assemblyperson Rajiv Rishyakaran

Rajiv added that now there are only 1,000 feeder buses to complement RapidKL trains.

"The options in case of a breakdown are tremendous in London, Hong Kong and Singapore, where there are more than 10,000 buses ready to be deployed.

"This should not be an afterthought," he added.

LRT service from Kelana Jaya to Ampang Park suspended for a week

LRT service from Kelana Jaya to Ampang Park suspended for a week

Flash flood warning: 6 states, KL at risk in next 24 hours

Flash flood warning: 6 states, KL at risk in next 24 hours

Nearly half of Kelana Jaya LRT stations shutdown

Nearly half of Kelana Jaya LRT stations shutdown