LRT users now enjoy direct Sentul Timur-Putra Heights journey

Users of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) service on the Sri Petaling-Ampang route from today enjoy direct journeys between Sentul Timur and Putra Heights, officially known as the LRT Sri Petaling Line, as of 6 am.

Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (Prasarana), in a statement today, said the integration of the two routes significantly saved on travel time, specifically from Puchong and Bandar Kinrara for those travelling to the areas around Subang, Subang Jaya and USJ.

"But what is more meaningful is the direct travel between Putra Heights and Sentul Timur, which is a 37km trip via 29 stations, which from today is officially named the Sri Petaling Line," said the statement.

According to Prasarana, with the completion of the migration of the LRT signalling system on the Sri Petaling-Ampang route yesterday, Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd – the operator of the LRT and monorail services in the Klang Valley and a subsidiary company of Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (Prasarana), could now begin the process of replacing all 30 trains which came into service in 1996 when operating as STAR LRT.

The Sri Petaling Line will be using new trains fully, whereby 35 of the new 50 six-coach trains bought from CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company, China for the Sri Petaling–Ampang route are already in operation.

The balance of 15 sets of trains are currently being put together at a local facility belonging to them in Batu Gajah, Perak, according to the statement.

These trains will be delivered to Rapid Rail in stages and all the trains for the LRT Sri Petaling-Ampang route are expected to be fully used early next year.

Prasarana, meanwhile, announced that it had bought 14 sets of the lastest model of four-coach trains Bombardier Innovia Metro 300 to boost the comfort of passengers on the Rapid KL train service for the Kelana Jaya Line.

The new trains will start operating in stages from September, according to the statement.