SUNGAI BULOH: Three Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations will be closed temporarily starting Oct 9, for the final migration works of the MRT Kajang and MRT Putrajaya Lines.
The move was to transfer the section of the MRT Kajang Line, between the Kwasa Damansara MRT and Sungai Buloh MRT Stations, to become part of the MRT Putrajaya Line.
The three stations facing temporary closure were Kwasa Damansara, Kampung Selamat, and Sungai Buloh, until the launch of Phase One of the new MRT Putrajaya Line next month.
Putrajaya MRT Line project director Datuk Amiruddin Ma'aris said the station closures were necessary to enable the final migration of essential operational systems such as communications, signalling, and safety among others for the three stations to the MRT Putrajaya Line.
"It is also to allow an update of all signage at the three stations.
"Once the migration works are completed, we have to do the systems performance demonstration to show that the migrated systems are all working as meant to be.
"Lastly, this period will also be used by Rapid Rail as operator of the MRT Putrajaya Line to conduct final operational testing and familiarisation with the migrated section of the line.
"We apologise for the inconvenience caused to MRT users. However, these works are in an improvement to the Klang Valley's urban rail network with the opening of nine new stations under Phase One of the MRT Putrajaya Line," he said during a media briefing on the station closure and final system migration works.
Present was Prasarana Malaysia Bhd Group chief operating officer (operations) Datin Norlia Noah.
With the closure, all MRT trains from Kajang will terminate at Kwasa Sentral MRT Station.
For passengers to continue with their journeys, a free shuttle bus will be provided between Kwasa Sentral MRT and Sungai Buloh MRT Stations with a stop at the Kampung Selamat MRT Station.
The shuttle bus service will operate similar hours as MRT operation hours, with a frequency of 10 minutes between 6am and 8pm, and 15 minutes between 8pm and midnight.
The Sungai Buloh KTM Station as well as the park-and-ride facilities next to the Sungai Buloh MRT station will remain open and operate as usual.
Meanwhile, Norlia said as the operator of the MRT Kajang Line, Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd has taken all steps to ensure the transfer to the shuttle buses is as convenient as possible.
"We will ensure the shuttle bus service is sufficient to ferry passengers from Kwasa Sentral to Kampung Selamat and Sungai Buloh and vice-versa."
She added that sufficient signage have been put up and frequent announcements made at stations to inform MRT users of the temporary station closures so they can plan their journeys accordingly.
The construction of the MRT Putrajaya Line is nearing completion with overall construction progress for the project at 94 per cent.
Phase One of the line, from Kwasa Damansara MRT Station to Kampung Batu MRT Station is now 99.9 per cent complete and is expected to be open for operations next month.
The Putrajaya MRT Line (formerly known as the Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya Line) covers a distance of 57.7 km, consisting 44.2km of elevated tracks and 13.5km running through underground tunnels.
It will have 36 operational stations of which 27 are elevated and nine underground.