Ampang and Sri Petaling lines

Ampang Line and Sri Petaling Line
3 4
6-car CSR Zhuzhou Amy articulated LRV at SP4 PWTC
Overview
Native name	LRT Laluan Ampang dan LRT Laluan Sri Petaling
Status	Fully operational
Owner	Prasarana
Line number	3 (orange) & 4 (maroon)
Locale	Klang Valley
Termini	AG1  SP1  Sentul Timur  AG18  Ampang &  SP31  Putra Heights
Stations	36 & 2 reserve
Website	My Rapid
Service
Type	Medium-capacity rail system
Services	i) Sentul Timur - Ampang ii) Sentul Timur - Putra Heights
Operator(s)	Rapid Rail
Depot(s)	&
Rolling stock	CSR Zhuzhou articulated LRV 50[1] six-car trainsets Width: 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) - narrow profile Length: 84.0 m (275.6 ft)
Daily ridership	213,158 (2019)[2]
Ridership	65.15 million (2019)
History
Opened	16 December 1996; 24 years ago (1996-12-16)
Last extension	30 June 2016; 5 years ago (2016-06-30)
Technical
Line length	45.1 km (28.0 mi)
Character	Elevated and at-grade
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	Third rail 750 V DC
Operating speed	Average: 60 km/h (37 mph)
Signalling	SelTrac CBTC
show Route map hide v t 3 - Ampang Line Legend AG1/SP1 Sentul Timur AG2/SP2 Sentul AG3/SP3 MR11/SSP13 Titiwangsa AG4/SP4 PWTC KA04 Putra 12 AG5/SP5 Sultan Ismail AG6/SP6 Bandaraya KA03 Bank Negara 12 AG7/SP7 KJ13 Masjid Jamek 5 SBK17 Merdeka 9 AG8/SP8 Plaza Rakyat AG9/SP9 MR4 Hang Tuah 8 AG10/SP10 Pudu AG11/SP11 SSP20 Chan Sow Lin 4 12 AG12 Miharja AG13 SBK22 Maluri 9 AG14 Pandan Jaya AG15 Pandan Indah AG16 Cempaka AG17 Cahaya Ampang Depot AG18 Ampang to 4 Sri Petaling Line Interchange stations integrated paid area single fare trip non-integrated paid area multiple fare trips rapid transit commuter rail hide v t 4 - Sri Petaling Line Legend AG1/SP1 Sentul Timur AG2/SP2 Sentul AG3/SP3 MR11/SSP13 Titiwangsa 8 12 AG4/SP4 PWTC KA04 Putra 12 AG5/SP5 Sultan Ismail AG6/SP6 Bandaraya KA03 Bank Negara 12 AG7/SP7 KJ13 Masjid Jamek 5 SBK17 Merdeka 9 AG8/SP8 Plaza Rakyat AG9/SP9 MR4 Hang Tuah 8 AG10/SP10 Pudu AG11/SP11 SSP20 Chan Sow Lin 3 12 SP12 Cheras SP13 Salak Selatan SP14 Bandar Tun Razak SP15 KT2/KB04 Bandar Tasik Selatan 1 7 SSP25/SP16 Sungai Besi 12 SP17 Bukit Jalil SP18 Sri Petaling to 3 Ampang Line SP19 Awan Besar SP20 Muhibbah SP21 Alam Sutera SP22 Kinrara BK5 SP23 (future station) SP24 IOI Puchong Jaya SP25 Pusat Bandar Puchong SP26 Taman Perindustrian Puchong SP27 Bandar Puteri SP28 Puchong Perdana SP29 Puchong Prima SP30 (future station) Kuala Sungai Baru Depot KJ37/SP31 Putra Heights 5 Interchange stations integrated paid area single fare trip non-integrated paid area multiple fare trips rapid transit commuter rail

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Location of Ampang and Sri Petaling LRT line

The LRT Ampang Line and the LRT Sri Petaling Line are medium-capacity passenger railway lines in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. The combined network comprises 45.1 kilometres of track (28.0 miles) with 36 stations, and was the first railway in Malaysia to use standard-gauge track and semi-automated trains.

A trip from one end to the other takes 41 minutes on the Ampang Line, and 74 minutes on the Sri Petaling Line.

The Ampang Line is named after its eastern terminus, Ampang station, while the Sri Petaling Line is named after its former southern terminus, Sri Petaling station.

The Ampang and Sri Petaling Lines form part of the Klang Valley Integrated Transit System, numbered 3 and 4, and are coloured orange and maroon on official rail maps respectively.

History[]

LRT track around Chan Sow Lin, the interchange station between two lines. The Exchange 106 is visible in the background under construction.

The Ampang Line and Sri Petaling Line were originally known as the STAR LRT (abbreviation for Sistem Transit Aliran Ringan, which translates to Light Rail Transit System), a single train line originating at Sentul Timur station, with two branches to Ampang and Sri Petaling via Chan Sow Lin station.

STAR LRT was first conceived in the 1981 Transport Master Plan, when the Malaysian government proposed a network of LRT lines connecting Kuala Lumpur city centre with the surrounding areas. An agreement was signed between the government and STAR in 1992.^[3]

The original system (27.4 km) consists of 25 stations built in two phases. Phase one (12.4 km) consists of 14 stations (Ampang – Sultan Ismail) and a depot near Ampang station. Phase two (15 km) consists of 11 stations (Chan Sow Lin – Sri Petaling, and Sultan Ismail – Sentul Timur). The two phases opened in December 1996 and July 1998 respectively.^[4][5]

The initial plan was for STAR to build, own and manage the STAR LRT. However, STAR ran into financial difficulties, and had to be bailed out by the government.^[6] So, in 2002, Prasarana took over the line, and renamed the STAR LRT to the STAR Line. Operations of the line were subsequently transferred to Rapid KL in 2004 and the line was renamed the Ampang Line and Sri Petaling Line in 2005. The Ampang Line assumed the branch line between Sentul Timur and Ampang stations, whereas Sri Petaling Line assumed the branch line between Sentul Timur and Sri Petaling stations.

In 2006, the government announced the Sri Petaling Line extension project. The extension comprises 11 new stations over 17.7 kilometres of elevated track beyond Sri Petaling station. This extended the terminus of the Sri Petaling Line from Sri Petaling to Putra Heights.^[7] Unlike the original line, which uses the Fixed-block signalling system, the extension uses the Communications-based train control (CBTC) signalling system. As a result, when the first four stations and the next four stations opened on 31 October 2015 and 31 March 2016, the extension ran as a separate train service between Sri Petaling station and Bandar Puteri station.^[8][9] Re-signalling had to be carried out on the original line before the extension could be combined with the rest of the line. Thales was awarded a contract on 3 September 2012 to upgrade the signalling system on the original line, and the work was completed in July 2016.^[10][11]

Stations[]

The Ampang and Sri Petaling Lines run on a common route between Sentul Timur station and Chan Sow Lin station, effectively making all the stations on this section act as interchanges between both lines. From Chan Sow Lin station, the lines diverge and run separately, with the Ampang Line travelling to its terminus, Ampang station, whereas the Sri Petaling Line runs to Putra Heights station, where it meets the Kelana Jaya Line.^[12][13]

LRT Ampang Line[]

LRT Sri Petaling Line[]

Rolling stock[]

The Ampang and Sri Petaling Lines system network fleet consists of the following models:

• 50 6-car CSR Zhuzhou articulated LRV trainsets, nicknamed as AMY, operated since January 2015.
• 29 + 1 (out of service) 6-car Adtranz-Walkers LRV trainsets, which were operated from December 1996 until December 2016, have been phased out and replaced by CSR Zhuzhou articulated LRV trainsets.

1st generation Adtranz-Walkers EMU[]

A former 1st generation stock of Adtranz-Walkers articulated LRV trainset, showing the initial four-car configurations

The former fleet consisted of 90 Adtranz standard-gauge light rail vehicle (LRV) manufactured by Walkers Limited of Australia. These trains were electric multiple units (EMU), which draw power from the underside of a third rail alongside the track. All cars in each train were powered. The trains were manned, with driver cabs occupying the ends of the train. The four-car trainset, an initial configuration that consists of only two EMU sets (2+2) of one driving car and one trailer car at both ends were used from the beginning of the operation in 1996. This formation were used in service until the centre trailer cars were added, becoming the six-car trainset, which consisted of three sets of two EMUs (2+2+2) and occupied the maximum platform length of the stations. Each of the two EMU sets at the front and rear consisted of one driving car and one trailer car, while the two EMUs between were trailer cars. Each two EMU sets were not connected to other EMU sets in the train.

The six-car configurations of the Adtranz-Walkers LRV

Each car had 3 bogies: 2 power bogies and one articulated trailer for the centre bogie. The end cars, numbered 1101 to 1260, have driver cabs. Middle cars numbered 2201 to 2230 have a concealed driver control panel, enabling the car to be moved around the depot independently.

The interior of the 1st generation Adtranz-Walkers LRV

The train interiors were simple and basic. There were no individual seats, only longitudinal bench seating on either side of the train, surfaced in metal, while spaces near the connecting ends of the cars were provided for passengers who use wheelchairs and other assistive devices, with a large amount of floorspace for standing passengers. The rolling stock, which has remained relatively unchanged since its introduction in 1996, were replaced in stages by the new trains between 2015 and 2016.

2nd generation CSR-Zhuzhou LRV[]

A 2nd generation stock 6-car trainset of CSR Zhuzhou articulated LRV at Awan Besar

Interior of set AMY 2 in 2019

The second generation rolling stock of the Ampang Line and Sri Petaling Line currently consists of a fleet of 50 new trains, better known as AMY, that are deployed to increase the capacity of the line and provide a better service. Each of the new trains is six cars long^[14][15] and provided by CSR Zhuzhou of China, similar to on the design for İzmir Metro and Buenos Aires Underground 200 Series.^[16] These trains are disabled-friendly and include safety features like closed-circuit TV, emergency breakable window, emergency ventilation fan, fire and smoke detection system. The trains are equipped with supervised automatic train operation system (SATO), which claims to be the first railway in Malaysia to introduce such systems. Other elements such as interactive destination display inside the train, non-slipping seats, LCD infotainment, walk-through gangways, and more wheelchair space were included.^[17][18] The first trains were put into service on the Sri Petaling-Kinrara BK5 stretch in October 2015, and then until Putra Heights and Sentul Timur in July 2016, and finally the Ampang branch line in December 2016.^[19]

Formation[]

The train consist of six cars, with cars 1 towards Ampang/Putra Heights and cars 6 towards Sentul Timur.

Train control[]

The Ampang and Sri Petaling Lines are equipped with the Thales SelTrac Communications-based train control (CBTC) signaling system, and the iVENCS Control Systems.^{[20][21][22][23]}

The operations are controlled at the Ampang Operational and Control Centre, with two depots located at Ampang on the Ampang Line and Kampung Kuala Sungai Baru on the Sri Petaling Line.

Ridership[]

Accidents and incidents[]

There were two major incidents since the opening in 1996.

Sentul Timur buffer overshoot[]

On 27 October 2006 on 7:11am, a six-coach Adtranz LRT train which came in from Ampang overshot the end of the elevated tracks at the end of the stabling tracks at Sentul Timur station, resulting in the front half of the set 1113 dangling in the air about 25 m above the ground. A lone driver was the only one on board when the incident took place. Only Sentul Timur endured service disruption for 20 minutes that day.^[25]

Bukit Jalil train collision[]

On September 24, 2008 at 6:30pm, two LRT trains collided about 200m from Bukit Jalil station. A carriage of one of the trains involved in the accident hit the rear of the other train, resulting the suspension of the operation on that day. Six passengers were injured in this accident.^[26]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ampang Line.

• Land Public Transport Commission
• Prasarana Malaysia Berhad
• RapidKL
• Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) Project
• KL Mass Rapid Transit (KLMRT) Line Integrations

Route maps[]

• The official Greater KL / Klang Valley Integrated Transit Map