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Roads in KL to be closed for the Thaipusam celebrations this weekend

By ExpatGo Staff

Posted on January 21, 2016

This weekend will see thousands of devotees celebrating Thaipusam, a sacred Hindu festival of thanksgiving to Lord Murugan.

Year after year, KL has been host to a massive procession of devotees making their way from the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple on Jalan Tun H.S. Lee to Batu Caves, and then ascending the 272 steps of Batu Caves to reach the temple at the top. After that, the procession makes it way back to the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple from Batu Caves.

In order to accommodate the procession, several roads in KL are scheduled to be closed this weekend along the route. Deputy Superintendent S. Markandan of the KL Traffic Police said that the road closures with take place in stages, The Star reported.

According to the website of the Integrated Traffic Information System (ITIS), the road closure will happen in two phases.

Phase One: 10pm, 22 January – 2am, 23 January

This will be the route heading towards Batu Caves from Jalan Tun H.S. Lee. The roads that will be closed are:

Jalan Tun H.S. Lee
Jalan Sultan
Jalan Pudu
Jalan Tun Perak
Jalan Leboh Ampang
Jalan Munshi Abdullah
Jalan Dang Wang
Jalan Raja Laut
Jalan Sri Amar
Jalan Tun Razak
Jalan Ipoh (heading towards Wahyu)
Jalan Kovil Hilir
Lorong Kovil Hilir
Jalan Perhentian
Jalan Ipoh
Jalan Ipoh Mile 5 towards Batu Caves.

Phase Two: 4pm – 8pm, 25 January

This will be the processional route back from Batu Caves to the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple. The roads affected for this phase are:

Jalan Ipoh Mile 5
Jalan Ipoh
Jalan Perhentian
Lorong Kovil Hilir
Jalan Kovil Hilir
Jalan Tun Razak
Jalan Ipoh
Jalan Raja Laut
Jalan Dang Wangi
Jalan Munshi Abdullah
Jalan Ampang
Jalan Leboh Ampang
Jalan Tun Perak
Jalan Sultan
Jalan Hang Kasturi
Jalan Hang Lekir
Jalan Tun H.S. Lee.

DSP Markandan also urged road users and anyone taking part in the procession to make appropriate plans for transport, including taking public transport whenever possible, to ease the imminent traffic congestion.

Update: Malaysian Railway KTMB (Kereta Api Tanah Melayu) announced on their website that they will be operating continuously from 22nd January to 25th January so people can travel to and from Batu Caves during the Thaipusam celebrations. This was announced in on their Twitter account as well:

Sempena Thaipusam perkhidmatan KTMB Komuter adalah 24 jam.KTMB mengucapkan Terima kasih kerana menggunakan perkhidmatan kami.

— KTMB 03 2267 1200 (@ktmkomuter) January 21, 2016

Promoted

Translation: In conjunction with Thaipusam, the KTMB Commuter service will be operating for 24 hours. KTMB would like to thank you for using our service.

KTMB has stated that passengers can expect trains to arrive in 20 minutes intervals on Thaipusam day, 24th January, until 5.30am the next day. You can read the entire announcement with the complete scheduling details on the KTMB website.

Note: The announcement is in Bahasa Melayu.

Here’s an approximation of the walking route for the procession:

  
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