After nearly a decade of delays, cost overruns, political battles, and technical meltdowns, the LRT3 Shah Alam Line is finally set to roll by the end of this month. 

Transport Minister Anthony Loke confirmed on June 15 that trial operations have run smoothly and the system is ready for passenger service. The exact launch date will be announced within the next two weeks.

For the millions of commuters in Shah Alam, Klang, and Petaling Jaya who just want a reliable ride to work, this is cause for celebration. 

They won't care who promised what back in 2016. They'll just be glad it's finally here.

But the road to this moment was anything but smooth. And the controversies that marked the project's journey are worth remembering—because they tell us something about how Malaysia builds, and who pays the price when things go wrong.

The Grand Promise of 2016

It was August 2016 when then-Prime Minister Najib Razak launched the LRT3 project with characteristic fanfare. 

The plan was ambitious: a 37-kilometre light-rail line connecting Bandar Utama in Petaling Jaya to Johan Setia in Klang, featuring 25 stations and designed to serve at least two million residents. 

The budget was set at RM9 billion. Construction was scheduled to begin in early 2017 and be completed by August 31, 2020.

Najib urged that the project meet "world-class standards". He expressed hope it would be completed on schedule despite the cost limitations. 

At the time, it seemed like a straightforward infrastructure push—a government delivering modern public transport to the sprawling western corridor of the Klang Valley.

The RM32 Billion Shock

Following the 2018 general election and the change of government, the new Pakatan Harapan administration called for an immediate review of all major infrastructure projects. What they found was staggering.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng revealed that the total cost of LRT3 had ballooned to nearly RM32 billion. 

The original RM9 billion only covered construction costs. It excluded land acquisition, project delivery partner fees, consultant fees, operational costs, and interest payments during construction. 

When all those were added, the bill tripled. "The LRT3 is a mini 1MDB scandal because they hid the real costs of the project, where they told you the project costs RM10 billion when it actually costs RM31.65 billion," he said. 

He accused Prasarana of poor management and the previous government of deliberate concealment. The project was suspended entirely for further review.

The Cost-Cutting Miracle

After months of renegotiation, the new government managed to slash the project cost by 47 percent—from RM31.65 billion to RM16.63 billion. 

Lim called it a "miracle". The reality was less miraculous and more brutal: five stations were shelved, and the project delivery partner model was scrapped in favour of a fixed-price contract.

The five shelved stations—Tropicana, Raja Muda, Temasya, Bukit Raja, and Bandar Botanik—were supposed to be gone for good. 

But in Budget 2024, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced their revival at a cost of RM4.7 billion. Later estimates pushed that figure to RM5.3 billion. The total project cost, according to some reports, now stands at RM21.9 billion.

One netizen calculation went viral: RM5.3 billion for five stations works out to more than RM1 billion per station. Whether that figure is accurate or not, the optics were terrible.

The Software That Wouldn't Cooperate

By early 2024, Loke was confident the line would begin operations on March 1, 2025. Construction had reached 91.86 percent. Everything seemed on track.

Then came the testing phase. And the testing phase revealed something nobody expected: the software wasn't ready.

In December 2025, Prasarana Group President Amir Hamdan dropped the bombshell: the LRT3 Shah Alam Line would not open that year. 

The reason? "System stability and software issues" identified during testing and commissioning. The signalling and software systems had not reached the required level of stability.

By February 2026, Loke was telling the Senate that two train sets had completed fault-free run testing, with another still undergoing the process. He set a new target: operations before June. But he also admitted there were "still several technical issues" to resolve.

The Final Stretch

That brings us to today. The trains have run their thousands of kilometres of testing. The 33 software glitches have been resolved through phased updates. Siemens and CRRC have provided full technical support. And Loke has finally given the green light.

But the project isn't quite complete. The five revived stations—Tropicana, Raja Muda, Temasya, Bukit Raja, and Bandar Botanik—won't open until Phase 2, scheduled for March 1, 2027. For now, only the original 20 stations will begin operations.

For the millions who will ride the Shah Alam Line, none of this history will matter. They'll see a 37.8-kilometre line connecting Bandar Utama to Johan Setia. They'll see stations in Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, and Klang. They'll see a modern train system that finally gives them an alternative to the congested highways.