Chemor railway station demolished

In Sept 2011 I blogged about Chemor railway station and mentioned that it might be shutting down. Not only did it close but it was also demolished less than one year later. Another piece of Perak's history gone.

I purposefully went to take some photos two years later in Sept 2013. The approach to the station in 2011 and then in 2013 -

and the station is now empty land -

Even the old house by the station has been abandoned -

 

 Above and below the 2011 view

 and 2013 it is fenced off and the vegetation is taking over

This house the other side of the lane is still occupied -

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Chemor & Tg Rambutan KTM stations

  For years now, KTMB, the Malaysian Railway has been doing a double-tracking and electrification project on the west coast line. The northern section, from Ipoh to Padang Besar is now underway. This project was proposed in 2002, then got postponed until 2008 and is expected to be completed in 2013 (according to Wikipedia). The project will also feature a 3.3 km tunnel in Perak, which will become the longest rail tunnel in South East Asia.

Between Ipoh (probably Tasek) and Chemor, the railway line will be re-routed to shorten the distance. Consequently Tanjung Rambuntan and Chemor stations are already closed.

Trains no longer stop at Tanjung Rambuntan, but they do stop at Chemor as they have to do the key drop. The next station to the north where trains stop is Sungai Siput.

Tg Rambutan station -

Tg Rambutan ticket window
The station is now occupied by food stalls.

The back of the station

The old line is overgrown

Driving to Chemor, there are two bridges across the road, for the old and new lines

This is the old line -

Chemor station approach -

Chemor station is now empty. However there is still a station master as trains do stop. Hassan kindly showed us around his office. We saw the machines for the keys - the train drops off a key, which is inserted into the machine which opens the circuit for the train to continue beyond the station.

Hassan

Chemor key drop

Chemor station opened in 1896. At that time it also served as the post office for about 20 years. It is likely that the station will be demolished. The new elevated track is almost as high as the station building. The new station will be built about 1 km north.

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Chemor station was demolished in July or August 2012.

See the demolished view Sept 2013.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

KTM & Touch n Go

The other day I noticed the balance of my Touch n Go card seemed to be somewhat lower than I expected. I had used the card a few times in the last week, but all for small transactions such as local train rides and road tolls.

TnG statement takes quite a time for the latest uses to show - apparently a fault of the tolls/stations etc, not TnG. After waiting almost a week I finally saw I had been charged 2 penalty fares, each RM10, by KTM on their Komuter train - I used it to go to the new bus station.

I checked the Komuter www, and saw they have a section on penalty fares. Apparently if the card is not read correctly, or there is an irregular transaction etc, a penalty of RM10 will be charged.

I then read that in most cases KTM will refund the money, if one contacts TnG. I did this through TnG www and had a very quick response. Then a couple of days later I was passing TnG office in Sentral so thought I would ask there. The girl was very helpful and filled out 2 forms for me (1 for each transaction) and told me my card would be credited in 1 month. I also picked up quite a detailed leaflet by KTM called "user guide".

As this seems to be a regular problem with KTM readers of TnG cards, I would suggest to anyone who uses these to check their statements.

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UPDATE

I had been told my refund would take one month. It took 3. I finally got the refund in mid Sept. At that was after filling out more forms at the end of Aug.

Komuter train - ladies only coach

I've only used the KTM Komuter train once or twice in the past, as I rarely travel by train.

This week I decided to check out the new bus terminal, Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (photos) at Bandar Tasik Selatan (TBSBTS). I took the Komuter train.

Had to wait more than 25 mins for the train which was crowded. It was hard to get on as there were several passengers with luggage standing near the doors. The train totally filled up and Polis Bantuan were trying to get people to move into the carriages and not crowd the doors. It was horrible.

So I was quite amazed when an Indian immigrant tapped my arm and offered me his seat, and made sure no one else grabbed the seat before I could sit down. Such kindness is rare in Malaysia and I made sure to thank him. I found the seats were rather narrow and I was in physical contact with the people either side. Maybe this is one reason why KTM decided to introduce the Ladies Coach last year.

The webpage says
Ladies Coach – Ladies Only At All Times (First in Malaysia)

The Ladies Coach is a coach specially reserved for lady passengers as an option when using KTM Komuter train service. It has been introduced in an effort to provide female commuters with a comfortable and safe journey, avoiding the risks of sexual harassment in a congested environment.

Apart from being located in the middle of each train, the colour Pink plays an important part in the Ladies Coach. Special stickers in pink are found on windows and doors inside the train and certain areas of the exterior.

At stations, banners are found at designated areas on poles painted in pink.

The Ladies Coach is located in the middle of each KTM Komuter train made available at all times inclusive of weekends and public holidays unless notified otherwise. Lady passengers of all ages and boys below the age of 12 accompanied by a female guardian / relative.

The Ladies Coach will be operational effective 28 April 2010. For a start, the Ladies Coach will be made available on the Sentul – Pelabuhan Klang – Sentul sector.

Needless to say the rules of Ladies Only are not adhered to, and I did see men in the ladies coach. And when I got back to Sentral quite a few men got into the ladies coach. Read this amusing blog.

I had the impression the ladies carriage occupied a good proportion of the train, but according to KTM, "The ladies coach only makes up 33.5 % of the space available in the train, while the other 66.5 % is still meant for normal passenger coaches".

At Bandar Tasik Selatan I felt sorry for those people with luggage. They had to walk up stairs with the luggage, then queue to exit, as there was only one exit aisle, which was being manned, so everyone had to hand in their ticket for inspection, or swipe the Touch n Go.

Considering BTS station will now be getting heavy use as it is the exit for the bus terminal, they really need to increase the number of exit lanes.

And when I returned to Mid Valley station the monsoon rain was pouring through the roof of the covered walkway.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission