The LRT3 Shah Alam Line is finally expected to begin operations by June. This was revealed by transport minister Anthony Loke during an interview on a radio show earlier today. He added that while Prasarana had set the conservative timeline for June, he expressed his confidence that the line could be ready from as early as April, as The Star reports.
The rail line had originally been slated to start operations on September 30 last year, but in August it was announced that the project had been delayed. In November, the government was said to be keeping to its target of December 31 for the launch of the line, but it was then announced in December that operations would not begin in 2025. The delay was put down to outstanding system stability and software issues identified during the testing and commissioning phase.
Loke said that the delay from the original timeline was necessary to ensure passenger safety through rigorous testing. He explained that the fault-free run (FFR), where the primary train must travel at least 4,000 km without a single technical glitch, had to be completed without fault.
During this phase, the 22 train sets, along with their supporting systems, must be able to integrate and operate continuously and reliably, as expected of a driverless train system of the Grade of Automation 4 standard.
“Unfortunately, during tests in November and December, we encountered software and signalling issues,” he said. He added that whenever a fault occurs, the test has to be reset to zero, regardless of how many kilometres had already been completed.
The FFR on the first six-train batch is currently 99% complete, the second eight-train batch is 82% complete and the third eight-train batch has yet to commence. All three FFR phases are expected to be completed on January 30, February 2 and February 28 respectively. Once the final trial runs are complete by the end of February, the ministry will proceed with the commencement of operations.
Spanning 37.8km, the line features 25 stations from Bandar Utama to Johan Setia, with interchanges at Bandar Utama (Kajang MRT) and Glenmarie (Kelana Jaya LRT). When it becomes operational, the rail line is expected to benefit more than two million residents in the western corridor of the Klang Valley.
Initially designed with 26 stations, the project was launched in 2016. In 2018, the Pakatan Harapan government shelved the construction of five stations and cancelled one, reducing the overall cost to RM16.63 billion.
However, Budget 2024 saw prime minister and finance minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announce that the five shelved stations – Tropicana (previously Lien Hoe), Temasya, Raja Muda (Sirim), Bukit Raja and Bandar Botanik – would be reinstated at a cost of RM5.3 billion.
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Who owns Prasarana? KWSP.
Who owns KWSP? MOF.
Who the boss of MOF? PMX.
We are all grateful to PMX for personally constructing LRT3.
Trolling much?
Let’s go further – who started the plan? PM6.
Who stuffed around with it? PM7.
Who miscalculated until we got PM8, PM9 and now PMX so the whole programme was rudderless for so many years? PM7.
Why do we have a transport system that is so schizophrenic in implementation? PM4
Who got rid of all the independent , profit making bus companies? PM4 + his DPM who was guess who?PMX
Why is our country stagnating after initial upward trajectory? PM4/7 + former DPM –> PMX
Belajar sejarah la or you haven’t been alive for long enough?
Stop paying Loke his salary by June then. If he still cannot perform, just fire him.
What about don’t buy chinese coach next time?
yeah better pay double the price for german trains, same logic like paying RM185k for golf tsi 1.5
Problem with our mrt/lrt, doors are open for too long.
Does this announcement mean anything anymore? Kejap last quarter 2025, kejap Jan 2026, kejap Feb 2026, June 2026. Pretty sure it will change to last quarter of 2026 and only operational right before next GE.
It’s a problem if they delay without a valid reason but they are quite transparent that the reason for delays are for safety and reliability concerns.
Did they actually tell you the “real” reason?
Why delay so long Mr Minister ??? last time you already say can start use on Sept 2025. After that you mention delay to early year 2026. Now say…June 2026. Maybe after April or May 2026…will announce agaian to inform more delay…huhu…what is this ??? project no schedule ka ? suka2 delay…suka2 postpone ? Its look like gov and Prasarana is giving fake hope to Malaysian who is waiting to use this new LRT line… Adakah ini salah satu contoh TATAKELOLA oleh MADANI ???
Of course, there are always these individual critics who complain a lot about the delays, but they most likely may not understand that these APAD requested FFR tests are so important for LRT3’s safe operation, especially when the safety of the public who ride as passengers, are concerned. Probably, these very same individual critics have also forgotten about the May 2021 Kelana Jaya line LRT train collision which injured 200+ passengers, and this is the kind of incident which the transport ministry, APAD, Prasarana & its contractor MRCB want to avoid. So, do these individual critics expect the ministry, APAD, Prasarana & MRCB take a ‘short cut’ with the FFR tests to avoid these delays & just hope for the best?
And then, when an incident later occurs & it was linked to the above-mentioned ‘short cut’, will these very same individual critics then cry ‘Scandal!’ & blame the ministry, APAD, Prasarana & MRCB for not properly completing these important FFR tests despite the delays?