Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd is the operator of the
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...
(metro) system serving
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
and the
Klang Valley
Klang Valley () is an urban agglomeration in Malaysia that is centered in the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and including their adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor. It is the urban area of the much larger Ku ...
area in
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
. A subsidiary of
Prasarana Malaysia
Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (Prasarana) (English: Malaysian Infrastructure Limited) is a government-owned company which was set up by Ministry of Finance (Malaysia) as a corporate body established under the Minister of Finance (Incorporation) A ...
, it is the sole operator of five rapid transit lines which collectively form the
Rapid KL
Rapid KL (stylized as ''rapidKL'') is a public transportation system owned by Prasarana Malaysia and operated by its subsidiaries Rapid Rail and Rapid Bus. The acronym stands for , which translates to Kuala Lumpur Integrated Rapid Transit Net ...
rapid transit system. The system currently consists of three
light rapid transit
A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS trains are usually 1 to 4 cars. Most medi ...
(LRT) lines, two
mass rapid transit (MRT) lines and a
monorail
A monorail is a Rail transport, railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style ...
line, with another MRT and LRT line currently under construction.
The LRT (narrow profile) and MRT (wide profile) lines operate on
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...
() rail, while the
KL Monorail
The KL Monorail Line is the only operational monorail system in Malaysia. Operated as part of the Rapid KL system by Rapid Rail, a subsidiary of Prasarana Malaysia, it is one of the components of the Klang Valley Integrated Transit System. Th ...
operates on an
ALWEG
Alweg was a transportation company based in Germany known for pioneering straddle-beam monorails.
History
Alweg was founded by Sweden, Swedish industrial magnate Dr. Axel Wenner-Gren, Axel Lennart Wenner-Gren in January 1953 as Alweg-Forsch ...
straddle beam. Train services operate from 6:00a.m. and typically end before midnight daily,
with frequencies varying from approximately three minutes during peak hours to fourteen minutes during non-peak hours.
History
Malaysia's efforts to revolutionise commuting began in 1984 when the then
Minister of Federal Territory Shahrir Abdul Samad released details of a light rapid transit (LRT) system implementation study for Kuala Lumpur. Many were skeptical over its implementation, especially when financing was a major question. The study, undertaken by a Belgian consortium in association with
Spie Batignolles
Spie Batignolles is a French construction company based in Neuilly-sur-Seine. The company provides building and infrastructure construction in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland.
Company history
Ernest Goüin fou ...
of France in cooperation with Master Carriage Malaysia Sdn Bhd, was for an urban or suburban LRT system - powered by overhead electric lines or catenaries. The system - covering 18 stations between
Petaling Jaya
Petaling Jaya (), colloquially referred to as "PJ", is a city in Petaling District, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Originally developed as a Satellite city, satellite township for Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, it is part of the G ...
and
Sentul - was targeted for implementation in 1984 and completion in 1988. Unfortunately, the project did not take off until 4 years later, when the
Government of Malaysia
The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia (; Jawi script, Jawi: ), is based in the Federal Territories of Malaysia, Federal Territory of Putrajaya, with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in ...
signed an agreement with ''Sistem Transit Aliran Ringan Sdn Bhd'' (STAR). The first LRT line, named STAR LRT after its owner, was constructed and opened completely in 1998. The original system consisted of 36 stations along two routes,
Sentul Timur –
Ampang and
Sentul Timur –
Sri Petaling.
Around the same time, the government signed another agreement with ''Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd'' (PUTRA) to construct the second LRT system. The line, known as PUTRA LRT, featured a single route from
Gombak in the north to
Kelana Jaya
Kelana Jaya is a suburb of Petaling Jaya city, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia, comprising sections SS3, SS4, SS5, SS6, and SS7. The Damansara–Puchong Expressway cuts through this neighbourhood. The shopping mall Paradigm Mall is located here ...
in the south. The section of the line was built underground and became Malaysia's first underground railway. The line was fully operational in 1999, and complemented the STAR LRT system.
However, both STAR and PUTRA ran into financial difficulties and both companies filed for bankruptcy. In 2002, both companies were bailed out by the government, and the newly formed
Prasarana Malaysia
Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (Prasarana) (English: Malaysian Infrastructure Limited) is a government-owned company which was set up by Ministry of Finance (Malaysia) as a corporate body established under the Minister of Finance (Incorporation) A ...
took over ownership of both the lines, renaming them STAR Line and PUTRA Line respectively. In 2004, the routes were renamed and rebranded under the
Rapid KL
Rapid KL (stylized as ''rapidKL'') is a public transportation system owned by Prasarana Malaysia and operated by its subsidiaries Rapid Rail and Rapid Bus. The acronym stands for , which translates to Kuala Lumpur Integrated Rapid Transit Net ...
brand, with the STAR Line producing the
LRT Ampang Line and
LRT Sri Petaling Line, and the PUTRA Line forming the
LRT Kelana Jaya Line. Operations of the three lines were assumed by Rapid Rail. In 2016, the Sri Petaling Line and Kelana Jaya Line were both extended beyond their southern termini to Subang Jaya and Puchong respectively, with both lines now sharing a common southern terminus at
Putra Heights
Putra Heights is a 1,796 acres residential township developed by Sime UEP Properties since 1999 in Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located within the ''mukim'' of Petaling District.
History
Before 1974, Subang Jaya was part of Klang Di ...
.
In the 1990s, the government of Malaysia commissioned a straddle-beam monorail to serve the city centre of
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
. Various delays and changes to the project occurred, however, the
KL Monorail
The KL Monorail Line is the only operational monorail system in Malaysia. Operated as part of the Rapid KL system by Rapid Rail, a subsidiary of Prasarana Malaysia, it is one of the components of the Klang Valley Integrated Transit System. Th ...
line was fully operation in 2003. The Line was owned and operated by KL Infrastructure Group.
The company ran into financial difficulties, leading to a government takeover. In the end, the line was sold to Prasarana Malaysia, and was placed under the operations of Rapid Rail and was integrated into the Rapid KL system in 2007.
In 2010, then
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Najib Razak
Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak (, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020, he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, on ...
announced proposals to introduce a new mass rapid transit (MRT) system to complement the current metro system. The proposal included three new lines in a "Wheel and Spoke" formation around the city. The
Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) was founded in 2011 and was appointed as the owner of the project and the MRT lines, unlike the LRT and monorail lines which are owned by Prasarana Malaysia. However, Rapid Rail was awarded the concession to operate the MRT lines, thus allowing the MRT lines to be full integrated with the Rapid KL system. The first line to be constructed, the
MRT Kajang Line
The MRT Kajang Line, previously known as the MRT Sungai Buloh–Kajang Line, is a Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line servicing the Klang Valley, Malaysia. It is the second List of automated urban metro subway system ...
, which runs from
Sungai Buloh
Sungai Buloh, or Sungei Buloh, is a town, a mukim (commune) and a Dewan Rakyat, parliamentary constituency in the northern part of Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia. The name itself means ''bamboo river'' in the Malay language. It is located ...
to
Kajang
Kajang is a city in Hulu Langat District, Selangor, Malaysia, located southeast of Kuala Lumpur. Kajang, along with much of Hulu Langat District, is governed by the Kajang Municipal Council. Kajang town is located on the eastern banks of the L ...
, entered full revenue service in 2017.
Fleet
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
Innovia Metro is an automated rapid transit system manufactured by Alstom. Innovia Metro systems run on conventional metal rails and pull power from a third rail but are powered by a linear induction motor that provides traction by using magne ...
(ART) trains with related equipment and services supplied by the
Bombardier Group. The ART trains consist of two-
electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...
s, which serve as either a driving car or trailer car depending on its direction of travel. The trains use
linear motor
A linear motor is an electric motor that has had its stator and rotor (electric), rotor "unrolled", thus, instead of producing a torque (rotation), it produces a linear force along its length. However, linear motors are not necessarily straight. ...
s and draw power from a
third rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...
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.
Since October 2006, the operator has ordered 35 new 4-car trainsets to be delivered starting from 2008. Due to some delays from the manufacturer, the delivery was delayed to November 2008. After extensive series of testing, the first batch of trains began operation on 30 December 2009.
The rolling stock of the Ampang Line currently consists of a fleet of 50 new trains, better known as AMY, that are deployed to increase the capacity of the line and provide a better service. Each of the new trains is six cars long and provided by CSR Zhuzhou of China, similar to the design for
İzmir Metro
The İzmir Metro () is a Medium-capacity rail system, light metro system serving the city of İzmir, Turkey. The current system, consisting of M1 (İzmir Metro), one line, starts from Narlıdere Kaymakamlık station in the southwestern portion of ...
and
Buenos Aires Underground
The Buenos Aires Underground (), locally known as Subte (), is a rapid transit system that serves the area of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first section of this network (Plaza de Mayo–Plaza Miserere) opened in 1913, making it the L ...
200 Series. These trains are disabled-friendly and include safety features like
closed-circuit TVs, emergency breakable windows, emergency ventilation fans, fire and smoke detection system and supervised automatic train operation system (SATO), and other elements such as interactive destination display inside the train, non-slipping seats, LCD infotainment, walk-through gangways, and a more spacious wheelchair space for the physically challenged. The first trains were put into service on the Sri Petaling-Kinrara BK5 stretch in October 2015, and then until Putra Heights and Sentul Timur in July 2016, and finally the Ampang branch line in December 2016.
The former rolling stock of the Ampang Lines consists of a fleet of 90
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...
light rail vehicles manufactured in Australia by
Walkers Limited
Walkers Limited was an Australian engineering and shipbuilding company based in Maryborough, Queensland. It built large vessels and railway locomotives. The Walkers factory still produces locomotives and rolling stock as part of Downer Rail.
...
.
["EDI Wins Light Rail Order Extension", ''Railway Digest'', June 1995, p. 9.] The trains consist of
electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...
s, which draw power from the underside of a
third rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...
installed along a side of the line. All cars in each train are fitted with both current collector and motors. The trains are manned, with driver cabs occupying the tips of the trains.
The trains come in two trainset configurations. The first and most common variation is the six-car trainset, which consists of three sets of two EMUs (2+2+2) and uses the maximum platform length of the lines' stations. Each two EMU sets at the front and rear consist of one driving and one non-driving motor car, while the two EMUs between are non-driving motors. There are no gangway connections between the two-car sets. The second variation is a four-car trainset, a more obscure configuration that consists of only two EMU sets (2+2) of one driving car and one non-driving motor at each end, thus with two-thirds the capacity of the more common six-car set. The 2+2 trainsets were once used in full in the service until the massive deployment of 2+2+2 trainsets.
Each car has 3 bogies, 2 powered end bogies and one trailing bogie under the central articulation. The end cars, numbered 1101 to 1260 have driver cabs. The middle car number 2201 to 2230 have concealed driver control panels to enable the car to be moved around the depot independently.
Notable incidents
On 24 May 2021, at 20:33
local Malaysia time, a head-on collision occurred between a manually-driven empty train and an automated train carrying passengers, on the
Kelana Jaya line between
Kampung Baru and
KLCC stations, in
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
. The accident caused 213 injuries, including 166 minor injuries and 47 serious injuries.
Notes
References
External links
Prasarana Malaysia BerhadMass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp)Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD)
{{DEFAULTSORT:RapidKL Light Rail Transit
Railway companies established in 1996
1996 establishments in Malaysia
Light rail in Malaysia
Rapid transit in Kuala Lumpur
Rail transport in Selangor
Privately held companies of Malaysia
Government-owned railway companies