The committee is made up of Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd, train spare parts supply companies, original equipment manufacturers and independent consultants.

Transport minister Wee Ka Siong said the committee would begin work on Tuesday to identify the main problem before follow-up action is taken.

“We need to view the matter comprehensively because we had two incidents occurring in less than two weeks. We need to figure out why these hydraulic fluid leaks are happening,” he said.

“Both are related to the brake calipers which are said to have become damaged. According to the maintenance schedule, this occurred earlier than the expected lifespan.

“The lifespan should be six to seven years but there’s damage now after only five years of use. That’s why we need to study why the damage occurred much earlier,” he told reporters after inspecting the LRT service escalators and lifts at the Ampang Park LRT station today.

Wee said repair and maintenance of lifts and escalators at public transport stations managed by Rapid Rail would be conducted in stages. This is expected to be completed by this September.

Wee said this would depend on the reopening of OEM factories in Shanghai that supply spare parts. These places have been affected by the current lockdown in China due to Covid-19 infections.

“It’s been almost two months since Shanghai was locked down. So, there is a slight difficulty in obtaining spare parts as they have halted operations.

“Prasarana is also looking for other ways and checking whether there are any spare part stocks in other areas, or whether we will need to wait for the OEMs to send them.

“We have also decided that these parts should not be sent by ship but should be sent via air freight. We expect to save a month using air freight.”