Safety measures will be stepped up at monorail and LRT platforms

KUALA LUMPUR: All Kuala Lumpur monorail and selected Light Rail Transit (LRT) platforms will be upgraded and installed with the alternative safety door system to prevent passengers from falling onto the tracks.

The measure will be taken following a number of accidents involving normal and disabled passengers, who either accidentally fall onto the tracks or purposely break into restricted areas.

Seventeen cases, 16 of which involved disabled passengers, have been recorded since 2004.

In the latest incident, a man who tried to make his way down the LRT tracks yesterday died after being hit by a train.

The Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) told the New Straits Times that Prasarana Malaysia Bhd had until end of the year to ensure that all elevated LRT stations were installed with the platform screen door system (PSD).

“SPAD has emphasised operators to observe SOPs (standard operating procedures) diligently in handling passengers with disabilities,” a commission spokesman said.

Prasarana said the company was in the process of installing Platform Automatic Gate Screen doors (PAGS) at all monorail stations, which would be completed by year end. PAGS is also a safety door system that separates the platform from the trains.

These doors are synchronised to open along with train doors, thereby blocking access to the tracks.

This is to cater to a mixed fleet two-car and four-car monorail sets. Auxiliary policemen would be stationed at the platforms.

The spokesman said PAGS was not in operation at the KL Monorail station, which operates twocar sets, as the doors were initially designed for platforms with fourcar sets.

He said the PSD system had been installed at all Prasarana underground stations for the Kelana Jaya Line.