MRT Putrajaya Line Will Benefit 100,000 Passengers Daily When Launched

Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah, Prasarana President and Group CEO yesterday announced that an estimated 100,000 Malaysians would benefit everyday with the opening of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Putrajaya Line in March. This number are expected to grow steadily every year reported BERNAMA.

In totality, with the entire MRT connectivity both the Rapid buses and rail would see daily ridership bump from 722,000 in 2022 to an estimate of 1.2 million this year. He further added that the Putrajaya Line would be a milestone achieved for the group this year.

To recap, phase one of the MRT Putrajaya Line, which runs 17.5 km and comprises 12 stations, was launched back in 2022. The entire Putrajaya Line will house 36 stations spanning over 57.7 km and served by 49 units of four car train sets capable of carrying up to 1,200 passengers.

The Putrajaya Line interchange stations are Kwasa Damansara (with Kajang MRT Line), Sungai Buloh (with KTM), Sri Damansara Timur (with KTM), Kampung Batu (with KTM), Titiwangsa (with Ampang & Sri Petaling LRT Lines, KL Monorail), Ampang Park (with Kelana Jaya LRT Line), Tun Razak Exchange (with Kajang MRT Line), Chan Sow Lin (with Ampang & Sri Petaling LRT Lines), Sungai Besi (with Sri Petaling LRT Line) and Putrajaya Sentral (with ERL and KLIA Transit Lines).

Mohd Azharuddin further added that "Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Prasarana, as the operator and MRT Corp, as the asset owner, are currently running extensive testing of the service,” and the exact launch date will be announced soon.

He further pressed that the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) as the land transport governing body would also need to run tests and measure the effectiveness of the system in place before signing off for public use.

Furthermore Mohd Azharuddin said that the opening of the MRT Putrajaya Line will also aid in spurring business opportunities for small business and as now they are accessible easily. This concept was proven previously with the extension of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) network to Putra Heights.

With regards to Prasarana’s focus in 2023, Mohd Azharuddin mentioned that the focus for this year would be to increase service reliability in the rail systems. Passengers can see improved train frequencies especially during peak hours.

With regard to the Kelana Jaya LRT Line, Mohd Azharuddin says that "The LRT Kelana Jaya Line, most trains on this line are currently undergoing a special inspection and overhaul programme”. He is confident a train frequency of four minutes by August and three minutes by September 2023 can be met with the addition of new trains.

On a separate topic, Mohd Azharuddin did mention that the KL Monorail frequency would also be down to five minutes in quarter four 2023.