Electric Train Service KL to Ipoh

It is many years since I have been on a Malaysian train. I am not a fan of train travel anywhere. In England trains are too expensive. In Asia, where I have done many train rides, I have not really enjoyed them. Some journeys have been horrendous, such as in China, India, Pakistan.

In Malaysia in my backpacking days, I often took trains, mostly from KL to Singapore. I remember a 1st class sleeper cost about RM60. I also did many journeys to Had Yai. The journey used to take about 11 hours and was relatively OK in an overnight 2nd class sleeper. Then I didn't do this journey for some years, and when I next took this train end 2000, it was during the double tracking work. The journey time had increased to 14 hours, and was awful as the bright lights were left on all night and the ride was really rough, bumpy and jerky. After that journey, I simply stopped using Malaysian trains. The North-South highway had been built and buses were cheaper, faster and more frequent. But normally I prefer to drive.

In Aug 2010 the Electric Train Service (ETS) started operations from KL to Ipoh. It was priced at RM30 one way, which seemed expensive compared to the bus which is about RM17. And this was a promotion price, it would increase to RM45.40 in Feb 2011.

There are 2 services, transit and express. The transit makes 9 stops and the express 5, taking 2 hr 17 mins and 2 hs 5 mins.

I needed to go to Ipoh and didn't need to go by car. Normally I would go by bus, but as Pudu Raya bus station is still closed for renovation and I was too lazy to trek out to Bukit Jalil, I decided to take the train.

I thought I would use the ordinary KTM train as it was cheaper. But I found their website very hard to use, as they changed their timetable in Aug 2010, and from my searchings, they seemed to have left all the old times on the www as well as the new ones. And the link to the fares wasn't working. I was thoroughly confused, so went down to KL Sentral to do the booking.

Easy to find, follow the arrows -

The first thing that struck me was that the ticket office for the ETS is in a completely separate part of Sentral from KTM. I had assumed ETS is part of KTM. [I still don't know, as some people say it is privatised]

At least the KTM booking area had the new timetables displayed and they were quite clear to read, unlike the www. I asked at the info desk and was told the Ipoh fare was RM22. As there were queues for booking, I decided to splash out and take the ETS at an extra RM8 one way. It didn't seem to be much faster than the KTM express however. But it would probably be the only occasion I use this service, as no way would I use it when priced RM45. But I was annoyed when I found out after I had bought my tickets that the economy fare on KTM is only RM12.

6 carriages, A-F

It was quite exciting to be using the train again. I got to Sentral early and found a lot of people waiting, probably as it was a Friday afternoon. I had booked a week early and found my seat was in the first carriage at the far end. I also noticed that many of the seats were facing one way, and my section of the carriage was facing the other way - luckily my seat was facing forward.

these seats are facing backwards

My seating area

The train is brand new, made by Hyundai. We left dead on time, but it was a very slow journey out of KL, with several stops and just crawling along. Further down the line the regular KTM train overtook us.

Throughout the journey flat screen monitor showed a short film of tourist sites in Perak which was repeated over and over again. Luckily there was no sound. The lights were on in the carriage even though it was bright daylight.

As we left the welcoming message said "KTM welcomes aboard all dear passengers". They seem to be randomly using the word 'dear' in a similiar way to MAS. But this message also suggests the ETS is under KTM.

The ride was a bit bumpy out of KL, probably due to the tracks and not the train. It was frustrating stopping at so many stations, where no one seemed to get off and on. We only reached the highest speeds towards the end of the journey - I noticed 148 kph on the monitor.

There is a small cafe in the centre of the train, and toilets are located in 2 out of the 6 carriages.

At Ipoh -

Quite empty on the return

Verdict - nice clean train, comfortable ride (although on my outward journey the driver was a bit hard on the brakes at times). But it hasn't converted me to liking train travel. In my view and that of friends I spoke to in Ipoh, it is a waste having a train that can go fast and not utilise this. It would be far better to have less stops and leave those stops to the regular trains, and to use the ETS for a direct express service. ETS website.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission