PULAU INDAH (Jan 18): Prasarana Malaysia Bhd, the owner and operator of Malaysia's light-rail transit (LRT) networks, said that the first of its 14 new trains for the Kelana Jaya line would be operational by May this year.

Prasarana's group managing director Datuk Azmi Abdul Aziz said government-owned Prasarana expected the deliver one train per month by Bombardier Transportation and its consortium partner Hartasuma Sdn Bhd.

Azmi said the four-car INNOVIA Metro 300 trains were expected to increase capacity and improve the quality of public transportation in Kuala Lumpur.

"The new trains will offer a quieter ride, dynamic station indicators, and handicap facilities. We also expect to improve waiting times, reducing headway to less than the current 2.8 minutes," Azmi said.

Azmi was speaking to reporters covering Prasarana chairman Tan Sri Ismail Adam's visit to Kompleks Hartasuma here.

According to Azmi, the new trains will be able to handle up to an additional 20 passengers per car, from the existing capacity of 200 passengers.

He said Prasarana expected the new trains to boost public transportation usage.

For the remaining 13 trains, Azmi said the Bombardier-Hartasuma consortium would deliver one train per month until June 2017.

Prasarana had two years ago, awarded the RM577.6 million train contract to the Bombardier-Hartasuma consortium.

Under the contract, the trains are designed, constructed and tested at Bombardier's Centre of Competence for Mass Transit Systems in Kingston, Canada, before being transferred to Hartasuma's Westport facility for final completion and testing.

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