KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — The LRT Line Extension Project (LEP) from Kelana Jaya to Ampang, which encompasses new areas including Putra Heights, Subang Jaya and Puchong, is expected to cater for an increase of 300,000 commuters in daily ridership once it is fully operational on Thursday.

Currently the old route which included monorail service caters for 600,000 commuters daily, Prasarana Malaysia Berhad president and group chief executive officer Datuk Azmi Abdul Aziz told Bernama recently.

He said with the new extension line for the Kelana Jaya route, an additional 170,000 passengers daily were expected, while the Ampang line would also see an increase of 130,000 commuters daily.

Azmi said the new extension line, which consists 25 new stations built within high density areas, is projected to record an increase in ridership  significantly.

He said the new lines hoped to cater for the growing population of the Klang Valley which is expected to reach 10 million by 2020.

"Our main objective is to cater for a million ridership daily by 2020 since  other Asia cities such as Tokyo have passed two million riders per day, and we are planning to be ready for that,” he said.

From Thursday, residents in Putra Heights, USJ, Subang Jaya, Puchong, Bandar Kinrara and Bukit Jalil can commute daily to KL by LRT  — as one of the government’s nation-building initiatives to enhance and integrate the urban public transportation services which is one of the national key result areas under the government transformation programme. Built with a budget allocation of RM8 billion, this extended network, will run for a total length of 46.4 kilometres covering highly populated residential areas.

Azmi said the new extension service would provide a convenience, comfort and affordable ride for the commuters, such as traveling from Putra Heights to KLCC that would only cost a commuter RM3.40 for one trip which only takes an hour.

"While from Putra Heights integrated station to Gombak will cost the commuter RM4.40, Putra Heights to KL Sentral (RM3.20) and from Putra Heights to Plaza Rakyat is just RM3.20,” he said.

"If we can analyse the efficiency commuting with LRT rather than driving, it will save in toll, fuel and the most important is time, since there will be no traffic congestion,” he said.

In the move to enhance the LRT service, Azmi said Prasarana was now upgrading the signaling system for the Ampang Line that would increase its  reliability and higher efficiency.

Apart from that, Prasarana is also replacing the current trains for the Ampang line with 30 new six-car trains, and will be adding another 20 more six-car trains for the extended lines to increase its capacity.

"Completing the LEP project, the impact will be massive. LEP will be a catalyst for further development, and Malaysia especially Greater Klang Valley will enjoy seamless, integrated public transport system,” he added. — Bernama