Thousand To Benefit From LRT Extension

Thousands of Klang Valley residents will benefit from the proposed extension to the Kelana Jaya and Ampang LRT lines.

Transport company Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd group managing director Datuk Idrose Mohamed, who revealed details of the project yesterday, said the proposed extension were the most cost effective and well-thought out alignments that would serve the needs of the community.

“The routes cover densely populated areas in the Klang Valley such as Subang Jaya and Puchong and it balances the need of the majority of the population in those particular areas,” Idrose said.

He added that the current capacity for the Kelana Jaya line was 180,000, while the Ampang line was 170,000.

According to Idrose, the Ampang line is only 70% utilised. With the new lines, Prasarana is confident that more people will opt to using public transport.

Idrose said the Ampang LRT extension would cover 17.7km, and start from the Sri Petaling Station, passing through areas like Bukit OUG, the Bukit Jalil Golf and Country Club, and into Puchong before ending at Putra Heights. It will have 13 new stations.

“There will be seven stations with park and ride facilities, six of which will be developed as multi-storey car park complexes,” he said.

The Kelana Jaya LRT extension starts from the Kelana Jaya station, passing through Subang Jaya and USJ, before ending at Putra Heights. It covers 17km with 13 stations.

The line will also have five stations with park and ride facilities.

The stations will be equipped with lifts, escalators, public telephones, surau, and toilets.

It will also be disabled friendly with facilities for ramps, lifts, low ticket counters and special toilets.

Prasarana will display the proposed extension and alignment of the two LRT lines, as well as the facilities provided at the stations for three months starting today until Dec 14.

Members of the public are invited to give their feedback on the proposed lines at the locations.

Idrose said once they had received feedback from the public, the company would the then consider all the options to cater to the people living in the community.

“I hope that the feed­­back we get will be positive and there will only be minimal changes to the proposed lines,” Idrose added.

The 35km of lines, which are estimated to cost about RM7bil, will be elevated and are expected to be ready by 2012.

Idrose also said Prasarana would add another 35 four-car trains to the Kelana Jaya line, which now has 35 two-car trains.

He also said another 12 to 14 six-car trains would be added to the 30 now serving the Ampang line.

Source: The Star