KUALA LUMPUR – For millions of residents in the Klang Valley, trains are no longer merely a mobility option, but the heartbeat of the city’s economic movement.
Every day, nearly one million users rely on the rail network, which includes the Light Rail Transit (LRT), Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Monorail, to get to work, college, school and to attend to daily commitments that cannot be delayed.
Therefore, whenever a train is disrupted even for one minute, the effects are felt in a chain reaction.
People arrive late for work, miss important meetings, classes are shortened, traders lose customers and the entire transport ecosystem becomes chaotic.
A five-day observation by Sinar Harian found that users repeatedly faced the same issues that have persisted for years.
Delays, inconsistent frequencies, overcrowded coaches and a lack of timely information were among the common complaints.
Many passengers waited long at platforms without explanation and some were stranded late into the night due to technical failures, track intrusions or cable theft.
In a system that has reached more than two decades in age, the Ampang LRT has operated since 1996 and the Kelana Jaya LRT began in 1998, maintenance issues and asset deterioration are increasingly evident.
This network, which once symbolised Kuala Lumpur’s modernity, now faces mounting pressure as the population grows rapidly and travel patterns shift after the pandemic.
A college student from Klang, Victor, 18, is among the thousands of users feeling this strain. He relies on the Monorail from KL Sentral to Sentul to reach his campus every day.
“Sometimes I only wait five minutes, but when the train is late, it can take up to 15 to 20 minutes,” he said, who uses the My50 Unlimited Travel Pass.
As a result, repeated delays often disrupted his schedule.
He said increasing the number of coaches could reduce congestion and improve flow.
“If possible, add more coaches so it will not be crowded and trains can arrive faster,” he said firmly.
Feeder buses
A private sector worker, Muhammad Nur Ridawi, 44, also shared his experience of being stranded three times due to disruptions.
The latest incident in October was caused by an MRT track intrusion.
He said that control needed to be tightened and prompt action taken to ensure users did not bear the consequences.
Although the MRT provides feeder buses, the numbers are insufficient and information given to passengers is often inconsistent.
“Even the bus driver said he did not know about the disruption. We waited for hours and there were times we only reached home at one in the morning,” he said.
Even more frustrating, many could not continue their journeys via the LRT because its operations had ended for the day, forcing them to pay for e-hailing services at unplanned costs.
A finance officer, Faizul Ghazali, 44, admitted that weekly LRT delays have become routine.
He explained that the train frequently stopped for long periods at stations without any explanation and when this occurred repeatedly across numerous stops, the delays could accumulate to as much as 40 minutes.
Panic inside the coach
More worrying, delays without proper information can trigger panic, as experienced by Muhammad Raffiq Dzulfakaruddin, 26, when the MRT train he was on stopped at Semantan.
“There was no announcement. Passengers panicked, not knowing whether the train would move again or whether they had to get out.
“People were pushing and it became chaotic,” he said.
He stressed that communication during emergencies needs to be far more proactive.
Another frequent LRT user, Syaharil Mat Salleh, 51, was once instructed to change platforms several times during a disruption near KL Sentral.
He said they were first instructed to move to the next platform before later being told to return.
Syaharil added that the announcements were difficult to hear due to the noise and the large crowd.
A student, Nuha Naziha Mohamad Shafiq, 18, said that almost every week she had to wait longer than the scheduled time for the train.
She said that she chose the LRT because she wanted a faster journey but the situation had left her deeply disappointed.
M Malar, 60, described the delays as an added pressure for workers who rely heavily on punctuality.
A private sector worker, Kay Eng, 33, from Sungai Buloh, said the frequency of trains on the MRT Kajang Line needs improvement, especially during peak hours.
“Currently it is every four minutes. If it could be three or two minutes, even better,” she said, while hoping basic facilities such as toilets and air-conditioning would also be improved.
For My50 users, the fare is considered reasonable, but the “value for money” still depends on smooth operations.
A long-standing challenge that is growing more stressful
Complaints regarding the Klang Valley rail system are not new—several major incidents have caused national concern.
Among them were the collision involving two LRT trains that injured more than 200 passengers in 2021, component cracks and automatic control issues on the Kelana Jaya LRT in 2022–2023, as well as track intrusions and cable theft affecting the MRT Putrajaya Line since 2024.
With Kuala Lumpur population now reaching 8.8 million people, the five existing urban lines are struggling to keep up with demand.
The city’s rapid growth is not aligned with the expansion of the rail network, which lags far behind.
Kuala Lumpur is still not considered world-class because Rapid KL’s peak-hour frequency is around three to seven minutes, longer than Tokyo and Seoul, which operate at two to three minutes.
In terms of reliability performance, the Mean Kilometers Between Failure (MKBF) of around 0.54 million kilometres in 2025 is still behind global metro standards, which exceed one million kilometres and maintain punctuality rates of up to 99 per cent.
Elsewhere, other cities are far ahead.
Tokyo has 13 subway lines with a 304-kilometre network, excluding other rail systems.
Seoul operates more than 20 metro and commuter lines covering over 1,300 kilometres of track.
Meanwhile, Bangkok already has more than 10 Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) and MRT lines spanning over 276 kilometres.
Singapore, despite its smaller population, has 10 lines with 269.5 kilometres of modern rail.
Hong Kong operates 10 heavy rail lines covering 271 kilometres under the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system.
In the Klang Valley, the existing network includes around 11 lines encompassing LRT, MRT, Monorail, KTM Komuter, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Express Rail Link (ERL), totalling more than 500 kilometres.
However, most commuter lines are intercity routes shared with cargo trains, not pure urban metro systems like those in Tokyo or Singapore.
In conclusion, train delays are not simply caused by technical faults, but also rooted in structural issues: nearly saturated capacity, ageing assets, deferred heavy maintenance and fragile track security control.
For millions of users, their hopes are simple, that trains that arrive on time, clear information during disruptions and journeys that can be reliably planned every day.
Because every delay does not just disrupt schedules, it also takes away their time and livelihood.