Kuala lumpur: Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) will operate eight additional Electric Train Service (ETS) trips for Chinese New Year (CNY) and Hari Raya Aidilfitri to meet public travel demand.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, KTMB announced that 26,460 additional ETS tickets have been on sale since Jan 24 for the CNY, covering routes such as KL Sentral-Ipoh, KL Sentral-Butterworth-KL Sentral, KL Sentral-Padang Besar-KL Sentral, JB Sentral-KL Sentral-JB Sentral, and JB Sentral-Butterworth-JB Sentral.
These services are scheduled from Feb 13 to 22, with key routes including Padang Besar-KL Sentral at 11.05 am, KL Sentral-Padang Besar at 5.00 pm, KL Sentral-JB Sentral at 11.00 pm, and JB Sentral-KL Sentral at 5.30 pm.
Furthermore, from Feb 14 to 16 and Feb 20 to 22, services will operate on the KL Sentral-Ipoh route at 10.50 am, Ipoh-KL Sentral at 5.25 pm, Butterworth-KL Sentral at 6.10 am, and KL Sentral-Butterworth at 7.55 pm.
KTMB will also introduce its Electric Multiple Unit Plus (EMU+) service from Feb 13 to 15 and 20 to 22 for the KL Sentral-Ipoh-KL Sentral route. This service, which offers a daily capacity of 1,200 passengers via four trips, is already sold out for the operational period.
For Hari Raya Aidilfitri, an additional 36,540 tickets will be offered starting March 1 at 12.00 pm. These will cover travel periods from March 13 to 29, 16 to 20, and 23 to 29, using the same routes and departure times as the CNY services.
The combined availability of ETS and EMU+ tickets now stands at 70,200, allowing for up to 56 daily service trips.
"This step has been taken to accommodate the increase in passenger demand, thereby providing more comfortable, safe, and user-preferred travel options," the statement read.
Separately, KTMB also announced that the ETS service on the JB Sentral-Butterworth-JB Sentral route will be maintained starting Feb 4, with the frequency increased from two to four trips per day, raising total daily services from 40 to 44 trips.
"KTMB encourages commuters to plan their journeys early and purchase tickets in advance to enjoy more economical fares and avoid congestion or last-minute rush," they advised.