[4] Malaysia's efforts to revolutionise commuting began in 1984 when the then Minister of Federal Territory Shahrir Abdul Samad released details of a light rapid transit (LRT) system implementation study for Kuala Lumpur.

The study, undertaken by a Belgian consortium in association with Spie Batignolles of France in cooperation with Master Carriage Malaysia Sdn Bhd, was for an urban or suburban LRT system - powered by overhead electric lines or catenaries.

[5] Unfortunately, the project did not take off until 4 years later, when the Government of Malaysia signed an agreement with Sistem Transit Aliran Ringan Sdn Bhd (STAR).

[6][7] Around the same time, the government signed another agreement with Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd (PUTRA) to construct the second LRT system.

The line, known as PUTRA LRT, featured a single route from Gombak in the north to Kelana Jaya in the south.

The ART is essentially driverless, automated to travel along lines and stop at designated stations for a limited amount of time.

Each of the new trains is six cars long and provided by CSR Zhuzhou of China, similar to the design for İzmir Metro and Buenos Aires Underground 200 Series.

The first trains were put into service on the Sri Petaling-Kinrara BK5 stretch in October 2015, and then until Putra Heights and Sentul Timur in July 2016, and finally the Ampang branch line in December 2016.

The former rolling stock of the Ampang Lines consists of a fleet of 90 standard gauge light rail vehicles manufactured in Australia by Walkers Limited.

[16] The trains consist of electric multiple units, which draw power from the underside of a third rail installed along a side of the line.

The first and most common variation is the six-car trainset, which consists of three sets of two EMUs (2+2+2) and uses the maximum platform length of the lines' stations.

*Consortium Bombardier / Hartasuma 4 carriage EMU Scomi SUTRA 4 carriage EMU 6 trainsets (24 car) On 24 May 2021, at 20:33 local Malaysia time, a head-on collision occurred between a manually-driven empty train and an automated train carrying passengers, on the Kelana Jaya line between Kampung Baru and KLCC stations, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.