Fourteen four-car set trains are expected to be added to the LRT fleet, with one train set arriving each month starting May until June next year.
The first of 14 driverless Innovia metro trainsets will commence operations by the middle of this year on the Kelana Jaya LRT Line.
Prasarana chairman Tan Sri Ismail Adam said the new trains were designed, manufactured and tested by Bombardier’s Kingston Plant in Canada, a Canadian maker of trains and planes.
Upon arrival in Malaysia, the trains will be sent to the Hartasuma Westport facility in Klang for final assemble, interior fit-out and testing before being sent to the LRT Subang Depot for intense testing and certification.
“We hope the new trains will further encourage more people to use public transport and support the government’s aspiration to increase public transport modal share.
“With the new trains, passengers can expect enhanced features such as a quitter ride, dynamic route map and better facilities for the disabled.
“Hartasuma is responsible for the final assembly, including of a complete interior, an onboard system for security and communications and the final completion stages, before we move on to final testing on the network,” he said.
“The new train is expected to provide better frequency and lesser waiting time in stations, thus reducing headway not longer than 2.8 minutes,” he told a press conference after attending the introduction of the new train at Hartasuma in Klang today.
A single train needs to undergo 1,000km of testing before it is certified safe for passengers.
The Innovia Metro trains are expected to increase passenger capacity from 200 passengers to 220 passengers per train and to offers a more seamless, fast journey with the lowest wayside noise.
The latest generation trainset, equipped with 16 closed-circuit televisions, has a ‘Dynamic Route Map’, providing information to passengers on destination directions besides having a “Wheel Lubricating System’ that could reduce the train noise.
Designed to be environmentally sustainable, the trains achieve optimum energy storage through its lightweight build and effective braking, which ensure less energy consumption.
Its flexible seating arrangements allow for a higher passenger flow and comfortability compared to the previous train models where fixed seats allow for a limited number of passengers.
Prasarana has awarded the RM577.6 million train contract to the Bombardier-Hartasuma consortium two years ago.
The Kelana Jaya LRT Line extension will see another 12 stations being built, stretching from the Kelana Jaya stop up to Putra Heights. The project is on track and is expected to be completed by 30 June this year.
When asked about the possibility of budget cuts for projects under the nation’s largest public transport operator, in light of the prime minister’s announcement of a budget revision, Prasarana managing director Datuk Azmi Abdul Aziz said the revision did not include development expenditures, which public transport fell under.
“Prasarana is not fully dependent on government funds. We are also very active in generating funds on our own, including through ‘sukuk’ (Islamic bonds),” he said.
News Source: The Edge Markets, 18 January 2016