KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 — The necessary upgrades to prevent another power outage involving the Light Rail Transit (LRT) services will cost RM250 million, Prasarana Malaysia Berhad announced today.

President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Prasarana Datuk Azmi Abdul Aziz explained that the RM250 million will be to upgrade the substations, which supplies the trains with electricity, and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

"I was also informed that an earlier inspection on the 15th of this month showed that the Kelana Jaya LRT system is facing the issue of ageing, it has reached the end of its life cycle.

"We have started efforts to upgrade all the substations that we have identified and by our estimation, we can finish all the upgrading work by the end of the year,” he said during a press conference at the Prasarana headquarters today.

He added that the RM250 million price tag will also include "miscellaneous work” without providing any specifics.

Azmi added that old cables also contributed to the power loss last week; however, he pointed out that the cables have only been in use for 18 out of their 20-year lifespan.

He explained that the cables used for the Kelana Jaya line were "maintenance-free” cables, which was why Prasarana technicians did not check the cables prior to the malfunction.

"We are trying to get some information from the cable manufacturer. These are maintenance-free cables... just that they aged (uzur) before its time. They deteriorated before their time.

"We need to find out why it happened,” Azmi said but stopped short of saying if the deteriorating cables were due to a manufacturing flaw.

He added, however, that the cost of upgrading the cables was not included in the RM250 million as Prasarana was still in the process of inspecting all its power cables.

Azim added during both glitches last week, after power outages saw commuters stranded at several Kelana Jaya line stations as well as in the trains, was all in accordance with standard operating procedures.

However, he acknowledged the sluggish bus service, deployed to ferry stranded commuters, was due to the unfortunate circumstances on the morning of the incident.

"Both days’ incident, the disruption of services did not lead to any service stoppage. Trains were moving but just at a degraded mode, at a slower speed.

"It’s just that both incidents happened in morning and it had rained heavily. Roads were congested and prevented busses from being able to return to the station and pick up more passengers quickly,” he explained.

In a bid to manage the spike in passengers every morning during rush hour, Prasarana will also start rewarding early commuters by providing them with a 50 per cent discount in fare for those travelling between 6am and 7am.

"We learn from other cities as they have faced similar issues we well. When they face that problem, of the train capacity not being able to cater to that spike during peak periods and in response, some cities started introducing this to encourage more early travellers.

"So as long as you tap your card before 7am, it will be discounted at a 50 per cent rate,” he said.

The Light Rail Transit (LRT) operated by Prasarana experienced two major and consecutive service disruptions last week, which left thousands of commuters stranded.

The second disruption also forced some riders to abandon their trains and walk on the tracks to the nearest station.

Azmi has since announced free rides for commuters from today until September 15 to make amends for its LRT service disruptions last week.

Bernama reported that the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) had also ordered the company to submit a full report on the disruption involving the Kelana Jaya line by September 21.

English daily The Star reported Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai as saying on Tuesday that it has ordered Prasarana to revise its standard operating procedures for evacuations.

On Tuesday, Najib ordered upgrades for 15 power substations on the Kelana Jaya LRT line after supply disruptions repeatedly caused thousands of riders to be stranded over several days.