Malaysia urban rail operator boosts reliability after crisis, eyes Singapore standard by 2026

SUBANG, Selangor – Multiple system failures, 16 station closures for five consecutive days, frustrated passengers – these were the challenges Prasarana Malaysia faced during the suspension of service to nearly half the stations on the popular Kelana Jaya Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line in November 2022.

But nearly three years on, rail reliability across the urban Klang Valley region’s five service lines – Kelana Jaya LRT, Ampang LRT, Kajang MRT, Putrajaya MRT and the KL Monorail – has shown steady improvement.

Under the rail industry’s mean kilometres between failure (MKBF) standard – which captures the distance a train travels before experiencing a delay or breakdown lasting more than five minutes – urban public transport operator Prasarana achieved 0.54 million MKBF with 24 disruptions from January to August 2025.

This was a significant improvement from 0.33 million MKBF and 71 disruptions in full-year 2024, and 0.16 million MKBF with 118 disruptions in full-year 2023.

Singapore’s MRT has benchmarked this at a minimum of 1 million MKBF annually – a standard that the government-linked Prasarana aims to achieve by the second quarter of 2026.

Prasarana president and group chief executive officer Amir Hamdan attributed the improved performance to increased investments, more manpower and a proactive maintenance approach. The operator has been using MKBF as a performance metric since May 2023.

“Based on past failures and analysis, we now replace the Kajang MRT wheels after 400,000km instead of the original 800,000km. Similarly, monorail bearings, originally designed to last three years, are now replaced every 1½ years to ensure smooth operations,” he told The Straits Times on Sept 30.

Mr Amir said a fourfold increase in the maintenance budget and a 47 per cent rise in Prasarana Rail team manpower in 2025 compared with 2023 were crucial for improving rail service reliability.

In addition, there is at least one transit officer on duty for every train service to ensure smooth coordination in the event of service disruptions – their presence being crucial for detecting early signs of system failure. Dressed in black jackets and Prasarana’s red uniform, these officers nearly doubled in 2025 compared with 2023.

“If any signs appear, they can report to the operations command centre to decide whether the train should be taken out of service early or continue to the end of the line,” Mr Amir added.

For frequent traveller Sky Ngo, 35, the current LRT reliability is better than in 2023.

“I take the Kelana Jaya LRT line for work. I’ve noticed fewer disruptions these days. The worst was in 2023, when a 45-minute delay was caused by someone falling onto the track,” said the business executive. He was referring to an incident in December 2023, when a 27-year-old man was run over by a train at the Dato’ Keramat LRT station.

Call centre employee Eli Andaya, 28, commutes daily on the Kajang MRT line, as e-hailing can be more expensive and time-consuming than taking the train.

“I’ve only experienced two disruptions in the past three months. Not much time was lost during those incidents,” said the Filipino, who has been working in Malaysia for two years, while waiting to transfer to the Kelana Jaya LRT line to his workplace.

While expressing general satisfaction with urban rail services, Mr Andaya hopes there will be an increase in service frequency during the evening peak hours, saying that he sometimes waits up to 15 minutes for the train.

Globally, there is still room for improvement in Prasarana’s MKBF performance. On average, Singapore’s MRT trains clocked 1.6 million train-km without delays that lasted more than five minutes in the 12 months ending June 2025. Malaysia uses the same metric.

However, Singapore is not sitting still. On Oct 6, the Land Transport Authority announced the formation of a

five-member independent advisory panel

comprising rail experts from across the globe to support a new task force in improving the reliability of Singapore’s MRT and LRT networks.

Hong Kong’s and Taiwan’s rail reliability remain the gold standard. There, performances are measured using car-km MKBF, which multiplies the train-km figure by the number of carriages per train. Under this metric, Hong Kong’s MTR achieved 4.2 million MKBF, while Taipei Metro reached an impressive 23 million MKBF in 2024.

However, transport analyst Wan Agyl Wan Hassan is optimistic about Prasarana’s continued improvement in rail reliability, citing its shift from reactive to predictive maintenance – a strategy also adopted by world-leading systems like Singapore’s MRT and Hong Kong’s MTR.

“You can see it in the refurbishment of older trains on the Ampang Line, the replacement of signalling components on the Kajang Line, and the consistent reduction in major disruptions,” the founder and CEO of transport think-tank MY Mobility Vision told ST.

But given yet another three-hour service disruption on the Kelana Jaya LRT line on Oct 9 due to power supply failure between Universiti and Abdullah Hukum stations, analysts say Prasarana should continue to focus on proactive maintenance and monitor closely for signs of system failure, if it wants to meet its stated performance target.

On the day of the disruption, it took this ST reporter an hour to travel from KLCC station to Abdullah Hukum station, a journey that normally takes just 20 minutes.

The sound quality of the public broadcasting system was unclear, leaving passengers confused about the temporary arrangements for commuters to continue their trips. While statements for such directions were issued on social media such as X, no loudhailers were used for announcements in the crowded stations affected.

Mr Ngo, the LRT user, said: “Social media information is useful, but it is more important that station staff be equipped with loudhailers to communicate clearly.”

Another technical disruption affected the Ampang LRT line during the morning rush hour on Oct 13, leaving passengers stranded on overcrowded platforms.

The Malaysian government allocated RM216 million (S$66.5 million) in subsidies to Prasarana in its Budget 2026, unchanged from the previous year. For each RM50 monthly pass sold, the government tops up with RM100 to cover the actual cost.

Mr Wan Agyl suggests that the government should link subsidies for Prasarana to the operator’s performance, starting with the RM50 subsidised monthly travel pass, known as My50, that offers unlimited rides for Malaysian citizens.

“We should start linking the funding to operator performance: reliability, punctuality, crowd management, and service quality. That way, My50 becomes a performance contract that rewards better service rather than a perpetual handout,” said the analyst.