KUALA LUMPUR: Repair works for faulty escalators at LRT, MRT and Monorail stations in the Klang Valley are scheduled to be completed by February 2023, Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd said.
The company said it received the necessary spare parts in early December last year, after experiencing delivery delays due to global supply chain disruptions.
To prevent delays in repair works in the future, Rapid Rail said it had taken steps to ensure a similar situation would not recur.
"With the availability of the spare parts, immediate replacement work has been carried out by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) contractor in stages and is expected to be fully completed in February 2023.
"As of Dec 15, the process of replacing 20 handrail units and three stepchain units at 10 MRT stations has been completed, and the escalators at the stations are back in operation.
"As a long-term measure, Rapid Rail has implemented a condition-based maintenance programme or 'condition-based maintenance' (CBM) where the process of replacing components that are judged to be damaged or frequently problematic will continue to be carried out without waiting for the end of the service life.
"Based on the CBM concept, Rapid Rail has made sufficient advance bookings to support the CBM program," the firm said in a statement today.
According to Rapid Rail, maintenance work for elevators at the train stations is being carried out periodically to ensure that the facilities provided for users are in good condition.
Currently, the company said the availability percentage of lift facility operations at LRT and MRT stations is at 99 percent.
Regarding the issue of elevators in monorail stations, Rapid Rail explained that the original design of monorail stations did not have elevator facilities.
However, considering the needs of users especially the elderly and the disabled, the company said Prasarana has taken the initiative to add 18 units of lifts and 39 units of "wheelchair platform lift".
"The work to upgrade the lift facility on the monorail requires structural improvements and also involves some safety issues that need to be fixed.
"The upgrade project will start in the first quarter of 2023 and will take 18 months to complete."
On leaking issues at several stations, Rapid Rail said the repair works would be completed in stages and it is expected to be done by June 2023, adding that so far 21 out of 93 locations have been fixed.
"There are locations of leaks that require more time to resolve because the repairs involve modifications to the roof structure."
At the same time, Rapid Rail said the repair work of the wiring system and replacement of problematic bulbs at stations are expected to be completed soon.
"Rapid Rail has carried out a regular inspection and maintenance programme, and currently the number of non-functioning lights is below one per cent."