KUALA LUMPUR: Come April, rail travelling time between here and Ipoh will be cut by about an hour.
Commuters will be able to reach their destination in one hour and 55 minutes compared with two hours and 50 minutes now.

This is because KTM Bhd’s electric train services (ETS) are scheduled to start operations then with five sets of six-car trains. The ETS will also ply the Ipoh-Seremban route in less than three hours.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, who received the first ETS set yesterday, said commuters could look forward to having comfort, quality and efficiency while travelling on the two routes.

Although the fares would be slightly higher, he said the 350-seat electric train would have better facilities.

These will include two unisex and two disabled toilets, a buffet carriage, two closed-circuit television cameras per coach and two liquid crystal displays per coach (for advertising and information purposes). The train will also have hostesses.

The fares are still being discussed by KTM and the Transport Ministry will need to approve them.

Currently, some 50,000 people commute monthly on the KL-Ipoh route and some 10,000 between Ipoh and Seremban”We expect more people to use the ETS because they can reach their destination faster and in comfort,” he added.

The electric trains will have an operating speed of 140kph (design speed is 160kph).

They are supplied by CMK Konsortium in cooperation with Hyundai Rotem of Korea and Mitsubishi Electric Corp of Japan.

Ong said some 240,000 people used public transport in the Klang Valley and he hoped to increase the number to 600,000 by 2015 under the national key result area for improving public transport.

Asked if the ministry would consider using the ETS for the KL-Port Klang route, Ong said, they might if there was demand.

“We also have to see the economic factor,” he added.. – Source – transitmy.org