LRT Accident: Who is To Blame?

 

Bernama

How could two light rail transit trains coming from opposite directions be travelling on the same track? That was the question posed in MalaysiaKini on 25 May 2021.

This was among several questions which a former Transport Ministry officer said. Many industry players are asking these questions but are too afraid to speak out because of how close-knit nature of the rail industry.

Chung Yi Fan, a former special functions officer to then transport minister Anthony Loke, said many in the industry are suspecting systemic or organisational failure as the root cause.

“Everyone knows each other. They don’t want to be harsh critics, or they might ruffle feathers and lose some potential jobs in the future,” said Chung on his Facebook page.

Among others, Chung asked why a four-car train set was driven in manual mode and undergoing testing at 8pm on 24 May 2021.

He also wanted to know if the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system had malfunctioned or whether it was manually disabled.

But most importantly, Chung said the public should be told what happened to the signalling and interlocking systems which would have never allowed trains coming from opposite directions to be on the same track.

“There are many more questions. Incidents of such magnitude can only happen because of multiple errors and oversight. A series of wrongdoings, not just one guy pressing a wrong button,” said Chung.

“Investigations must not rule out the possibility of an underlying systemic issue or organisational failure or both.”

Details of the LRT accident are scant although it has been established that it involved two train sets along the busy Kelana Jaya line. According to the former Chairman of Prasarana the trains had just kissed each other in the tunnel. The Government did the right thing to terminate him. Otherwise there would be more kissing going on!

According to Dang Wangi district police chief Mohamad Zainal Abdullah, preliminary investigations suggested that one train set was undergoing testing and was driven manually on the wrong track while the other which carried 232 passengers was driven autonomously.

The accident has resulted in 47 hospitalisations.

The Kelana Jaya LRT line began operations in 1998. The train sets are from Canadian firm Bombardier which are fully automated while the signalling system is from French firm Thales.

Will there a full independent investigation? Or, a Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate? No! Why? Because it may unearth some unsavoury matters (or characters) in Prasarana and MOT. The public should demand an independent review of the accident; systems; competency of personnel; leadership, and the back-up plans. The word, otherwise, will be a “cover-up”. For a public transport operator, public scrutiny is necessary, especially when its liabilities are close to RM40 billion.

 

Reference:

Ex-MOT officer: LRT accident not caused by just one guy pressing a wrong button, 22 May 2021, Malaysia Kini