Does the Klang Valley's metro serve you when you need it?

Disrupted services 

In 2025 we have had so much disruption to Klang Valley public transport services. The causes have ranged from cables being stolen, to Unidentified Falling Objects (UFO's) landing on the track, to security concerns around the ASEAN summit.

Some selected examples from the last few months:

• Six stations along the MRT Putrajaya Line temporarily closed - power supply disruption, 23rd/24th September 2025 (New Straits Times)
• Service disruption on Kelana Jaya LRT line between Universiti and Abdullah Hukum stations - power supply issues, 9th October 2025 (The Edge)
• Ampang/Sri Petaling LRT line disruption at Hang Tuah/ Pudu - 'technical disruption', 13th October (New Straits Times)
• Delays on MRT Kajang Line between Phileo Damansara and Pusat Bandar Damansara stations - 'object' fell on the track, 22nd October (MalayMail) 
• MRT line to Putrajaya disrupted - signalling issues/ cable theft, 25th October (New Straits Times)
• Closure of various stations (KJ line: Ampang Park and KLCC, PY line: Conlay, Persiaran KLCC and Ampang Park, Kajang line: Bukit Bintang etc.) - sudden closure due to 'security concerns' during ASEAN summit, 26th October  (The Rakyat Post)
• Power supply issues at Gombak Sation on the LRT KJ line, 28th October (The Star) 

The Kelana Jaya line middle section is also closed between 6am and 9am most weekends this month (November 2025), as it has been during other months this year already, and closed 6am - 12pm on some weekends.

Are all these disruptions going to continue? What measures have been put in place to protect cables from being stolen in the future? What proactive steps have been taken to guard against power failures?  This kind of disruption can't be seen as 'business as usual' for a major capital city's public transport. For such modern metro lines, all opened well within the last 30 years, there should be no excuses.

Overcrowding

 

Overcrowded stations (and trains) - a common sight in Kuala Lumpur

 

On top of service disruption, commuters regularly have to contend with overcrowding.  There have been problems with train wheel maintenance, meaning trains get taken out of service, but basically it all boils down to inherent design/planning issues.  Kudos to the team at MLPTF for keeping a live tracker of the trains and their current status.  Can Prasarana / Rapid Rail publish something like this officially?  To get better at things we need to see what the problems are, we need to scrutinise them.  That means having the information to understand what is going on, calling for improvements, and holding people to account. 

 

Technical discipline

To get high ridership (and avoid a metro project being a waste of money), public transport needs to be reliable.  So reliable.  This is a science, or a discipline of engineering and management, and it has its own vocabulary. 

• Reliability
• Availability 
• Maintainability
• Serviceability
• Safety

These metrics matter.  

Supply chain, inventory of parts, back up systems, manual operation modes, failsafe, obsolescence management, the list goes on.  It is a discipline that can be learned, applied and developed.  

This is also true for major interventions, not just normal maintenance.  Remember the Ampang/ Sri Petaling LRT line closure from January 2023 to February 2024 (13 months!), between Bandaraya and Masjid Jamek stations? (It happened when an adjacent development affected one of the supporting columns of the viaduct.) In the end the work needed was relatively straightforward, setting the viaduct superstructure back in position on the supporting columns.  But it took so long. Either it was not seen as a priority, or Malaysia doesn't have the skills to do this kind of work quickly.  There needs to be an ecosystem of skilled suppliers who can undertake repairs and interventions with the minimum of disruption to services.  

As the metro lines age, there will be things that need upgrading or replacing, and there will be a need for planned interventions as well as reactive ones.  These can and should be done within narrow windows so that the lines can stay open as much as possible.  Specialists need to hone their skills and get good at this - it may be more expensive in direct costs but there will be much bigger savings by avoiding disruption and the losses in productivity that go with it. 

Area of damage to the Ampang/ Sri Petaling Line near Bandaraya Station (2023/2024) 

Hardworking maintenance discipline and engineering excellence need to be supported by the right culture.  They will not just appear out of thin air...

Positive culture 

The quiet, diligent, hard work of maintenance.  Not the glory of being awarded a project or opening a new development.  Not a handout 'for the people', but the unglamorous work of keeping Malaysia humming along.

Perhaps it's time to change the culture of praise, media attention, and pats-on-the-back at opening ceremonies.  Rate organisations on their record, on their long-term performance.  If you don't do so well this year?  No award.  There's always next year.  Do well?  Get commended.  And crucially - do badly?  There will be consequences.  (This of course needs to be done with open, transparent data with no room for manipulation.)

Politicians and top management at the organisations responsible for our public transport swan around in VIP cars with police escorts, insulated from the impacts of delayed and overcrowded trains.  These guys need to use public transport frequently - not just for media attention.  Got a meeting in KL?  Use the LRT.  Meeting at the airport?  Take the train.  One way or another the people involved need to have some skin in the game.  Only then will we achieve a culture which is constantly reinforcing good practices.

Information and contingency

Finally, there is the 'soft' side to all of this.   When services are affected, what is the Plan B, Plan C?  How is the system designed to be resilient?  How is information communicated to those who need it, and what about inter-agency co-ordination and co-operation?

These kinds of questions should come up in the planning and design of our public transport, and they should be regularly reviewed and updated.  There needs to be an assessment of risks to the system.  That includes risks of theft of any part of the infrastructure. How is this controlled?  Maybe the assets need to be protected.  Perhaps security needs to be enhanced.  

When services are disrupted, there are back up options.  This is something KL has got a little better at - not just leaving commuters to fend for themselves and relying on extortionate Grab cars.  Generally the Plan B is buses.  But rather than holding a lot of contingency buses that get 'activated' when there's disruption, more emphasis should be placed on building resilience into the overall public transport system.  Build capacity, build parallel routes - give people the easy multiple choice of LRT, MRT, bus, or bike, with no wrong answer.

For the contingency plan and alternative options to be effective, people need to know about them.  People need to be kept informed.  A single simple and clear app would help.  There should be clear messages on the main social media channels (and the relevant information should be in the post, not via a link to another website).  And there is no substitute for signage at stations, with live passenger information updates on clear screens.  That is a must.