KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 ― Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd, which operates the city's LRT system, confirmed that fires broke out in separate incidents today after two of its four-car trains suffered brake failures.

The two separate incidents occurred on the Gombak route, with the first happening at the Setiawangsa station at 8.19am and causing service disruption for 30 minutes, according to a statement by the company.

The second incident happened a little after noon near the Universiti station, where 53 passengers aboard the train had to be transferred to a rescue train.

“We noted that there were sparks of fire resulting from the brake dragging issue. The liquid discharged due to leakage will cause excessive smoke when hitting the hot iron track,” the statement said.

“It should be noted that any occurrence of fire is not immediate. The train would have stopped and a rescue team would be immediately dispatched to commence efforts to evacuate the passengers,” the company said, stressing that all passengers were evacuated to safety before the fire started.

Rapid Rail said that today's brake failures were similar to an earlier incident in February, all of which were caused by a design flaw in the four-car trains supplied by the manufacturer, Bombardier and the Knorr Brake Company.

Rapid Rail said both Bombardier and the Knorr Brake Company “have acknowledged that there is a design issue”, and are working on a permanent solution.

In the interim, Rapid Rail said their engineers have fitted new brake seals on 40 per cent of the brake calipers used to stop the 35 trains affected by the design flaw.

“This issue has resulted in lower number of serviceable train(s) in a number of occasions over the last few months.

“Since identified, Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd has been conducting special checks on the brake systems of the Kelana Jaya Line LRT trains to mitigate the challenges,” the company said.