Shah Alam Line

Initial proposal

In May 2014, the Shah Alam LRT was proposed to begin from Bandar Utama, Kelana Jaya, running through areas of Glenmarie, HICOM-Glenmarie Industrial Park, Shah Alam Stadium, Shah Alam city centre, UiTM, I-City, Bukit Raja Shopping Centre, Taman Eng Ann, Bandar Klang and then heading straight on to Johan Setia. This was later confirmed in October 2015 following the tabling of Budget 2015 where the Prime Minister announced that the government will provide RM9 billion to build an LRT project linking Bandar Utama to Shah Alam and Klang.

Reception of approval

In 2015, the public display of the line will was held for three months beginning in May at seven locations – the offices of the Shah Alam City Council, Petaling Jaya City Council, Land Public Transport Agency, Klang Royal City Council (then known as Klang Municipal Council), as well as the Kelana Jaya, Masjid Jamek, and Pasar Seni LRT stations. It was also announced that construction works were to start by Q1-2016. In September 2015, Prasarana Malaysia Berhad announced that Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) and George Kent Sdn Bhd joint venture (JV) has been appointed as the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) for the LRT project. In October 2015, Prasarana agreed to change the route of the LRT line, which was originally planned to cut through the housing area of Taman Muhibbah in Klang to Pasar Besar Klang (Klang wet market) at Jalan Meru. Residents of Taman Muhibbah had objected to the proposed line which would run through their housing area. The LRT project was officially launched by the sixth Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in August 2016.

Project cost cutting and downgrade to light metro

After the fall of the Barisan Nasional (BN)–led federal government in May 2018, the new Pakatan Harapan (PH)–led federal government, citing mounting national debt, proposed various cost-cutting measures to a list of federal government projects, including the LRT3 project. The Lien Hoe, Temasya, SIRIM, Bukit Raja and Bandar Botanik stations were reclassified to provisional stations while the underground station of Persiaran Hishamuddin was cancelled. The reasons cited for the changes made were due to the high cost of the project, unnecessary tunneling for the underground portion of the line and low ridership in the area. The provisional stations however will be built once demand in the area picks up.

Other cost-cutting exercises included the swapping of six-car trains for three-car trains, cutting down the total trains from 42 to 22, reducing the size of the stations to four-car length and ditching costly acceleration techniques. The completion date was also extended from 2020 to 2024.

Numerous delays and reinstatement of provisional stations

The planned completion date of the entire line in 2024 as announced in 2018 was delayed for over two years due to the impact of the Malaysian movement control order from the COVID-19 pandemic and further testing of operations. The first delay for the overall opening of the line was announced in July 2023 where Transport Minister Anthony Loke mentioned that the line was expected to be operational by 1 March 2025.

During the Budget 2024 presentation held on 13 October 2023, Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced the reintegration of the five stations that were previously under provisional status (Tropicana, Temasya, Raja Muda, Bukit Raja Selatan, Bandar Botanik) to be built alongside the rest of the Shah Alam Line with the exception of the sole underground station, Persiaran Hishamuddin, which remains cancelled.

In July 2024, the opening of the LRT line was further delayed to the third quarter of 2025. In February 2025, the opening of the LRT line was confirmed to be on 30 September 2025, with physical work reaching 98.16% completion. Construction was expected to be completed on 31 July and then handed over to Prasarana. Trial runs were to be conducted from mid-April to the end of June 2025. The total cost of the project was ultimately put at RM21.93 billion. In August 2025, the opening of the LRT line was delayed again for the fourth time, which is before the end of 2025, as further tests such as the fault-free run (FFR) test are still ongoing.

The delay was first teased by Prasarana through a social media post that the 24-hour train testing and commissioning activities of this line were ongoing until 31 October 2025, then further hinted on by a Prasarana internal memo, in which the company's CEO hoped for the line's opening in December 2025. It was finally confirmed by Transport Minister Loke, who stated that there were "slight delays", although he affirmed that he was confident that the line would be operational by 31 December 2025. However, the line was delayed once again to 2026 due to software glitches in the signalling system and the line's inability to complete the required fault-free run.

In February 2026, Transport Minister Loke confirmed that the LRT3 Shah Alam line is expected to begin operations by June 2026 at the latest. While Prasarana has set a conservative timeline for June, Loke expressed confidence that the line could be ready as early as April 2026, although this deadline was ultimately missed.

On 15 June 2026, Transport Minister Loke at the 62nd Annual General Meeting of the Malaysian Road Safety Council announced that the operations of the line is set to begin by month's end with the official date to be disclosed within the next two weeks, citing that the trial operations for the line have gone smoothly and the system is prepared for passenger service.

On 22 June 2026, Loke officially announced at the new Road Transport Department branch in Bandar Tasik Selatan that the line will begin full passenger operations on 29 June 2026 (Monday), with the opening ceremony to be officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on 28 June 2026. Around the time of the line's launch ceremony, Prasarana's head of operations, Mohd Ariffin Idris and Loke mentioned that the previously provisional stations will begin construction by year's end and is targeted for opening in 2031. Prime Minister Anwar also mentions free fares (including train ride, feeder buses, and park & ride) for one month until 31 July 2026. On 31 July 2026, Rapid KL announced the free fares are extended until 14 August 2026.

Route

The line covers a span of 37.8 kilometres (23.5 mi) from Bandar Utama to Johan Setia, passing through the cities of Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, and Klang. The line serves more than 2 million residents within the western corridor of the Klang Valley region.

The line begins from Bandar Utama which is located near to the northwest borders of Kuala Lumpur and runs on an all-elevated guideway passing through villages of Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara, Tropicana, Subang, and the northeastern Shah Alam industrial areas of Glenmarie and HICOM-Industrial Park before serving the upcoming reconstruction of the Shah Alam Sports Complex in Section 13 via Stadium Shah Alam station. After that, the line continues into a 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) underground tunnel before resurfacing nearby the Shah Alam city centre of Section 14 at Dato' Menteri, before running parallel to the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) and serving Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and Section 7 before entering the district borders of Klang, serving Bandar Baru Klang, Kawasan 17, Klang city centre, Taman Sri Andalas, and Bandar Bukit Tinggi before terminating at Johan Setia.

There are also several stations equipped with Park N' Ride areas, either officially managed by Prasarana or by third-parties. For Park N' Rides managed by Prasarana, LRT-commuters will be charged RM 5.00 per entry and must use the same Touch 'n Go card when entering/exiting the parking area and boarding the trains.

Station designs

All of the operational stations are elevated, and is inspired by the concept theme of "tanjak" or "tengkolok" which is a symbol of Malaysian cultural heritage and splendor that combines traditional and modern elements, providing unique characteristic values. Of the 20 stations, two of them have a unique design from the rest, namely Stadium Shah Alam which is heavily decorated with sports-themed elements and consisting of a wider internal concourse area,^{[citation needed]} and Dato' Menteri which has a different shade of blue as it is meant to resemble the trademark of the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) on its exterior.^{[citation needed]}

All stations are equipped with ticket vending machines, automatic bar entrance doors, information display systems (PIDS), feeder buses and on-demand transport information banners, as well as escalators, lifts, suraus, and toilets that are disabled-friendly and wheelchair accessible serving each platform.

3-car CRRC rolling stock

The Shah Alam line's fleet consists of 22 3-car trainsets from CRRC Zhuzhou. Operating at minimum headway frequencies, the fleet is capable of a maximum capacity of 18,630 passengers per hour per direction (pphpd) and is projected to carry 67,000 passengers per day once commercial service commences.

In 2024, it was announced that an additional seven 3-car trainsets would be added to the fleet by the end of 2027 as part of the cabinet's project scope restoration and the reinstatement of five previously shelved stations.

Rolling stock formation

The rolling stock consists of fully automated, driverless 3-car Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) operating under Grade of Automation 4 (GoA4). Each trainset is configured in a three-car formation consisting of two motorized driving cars (Mc) sandwiching a middle unmotorized trailer car (T).

Technical specifications

The rolling stock consists of lightweight, high-strength aluminum alloy car bodies engineered specifically with a narrow-profile cross-section to accommodate the line's infrastructure constraints.

Interior layout and seating configuration

The interior design optimizes passenger flow and maximizes standing room to meet the line's peak-direction throughput requirements.

• Seating arrangement: Longitudinal perimeter seating (bench-style seating aligned flat against the cabin walls facing inward). This creates a wide central aisle to ease passenger boarding and offloading.
• Seating material: Ergonomically contoured, cantilevered modular plastic seats designed for easy cleaning and high durability.
• Gangway configuration: Fully open, continuous walkthrough gangways connect all three cars (inter-car accessibility), allowing passengers to move freely across the entire length of the train to distribute crowding evenly.
• Accessibility (Disabled-friendly features):
  • Dedicated wheelchair and stroller mooring spaces equipped with safety backpads and grab straps.
  • Level-boarding thresholds designed to match seamless platform edge interfaces.
• Passenger amenities:
  • Overhead longitudinal dynamic LED/LCD Passenger Information Displays (PIDS) providing real-time route maps, upcoming station announcements, and door opening orientation.
  • High-capacity, roof-mounted climate control HVAC units calibrated specifically for tropical environments.

Passenger capacity

The trains are engineered as a medium-capacity transit system designed to maintain high frequencies during peak commute hours.