KUALA LUMPUR: Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB)’s plans to get an additional 10 new sets of electric train service (ETS) coaches is expected to allow over 7.5 million passengers to use the service annually, says Anthony Loke.
The Transport Minister said that last year, there were 32 daily ETS trips and there were 4.12 million passengers that year.
“With the new 10 sets of ETS coaches, the number of passengers is expected to increase to 7,547,565 passengers annually when it begins operating,” said Loke during the Oral Question Time in Parliament on Thursday (March 7).
According to Loke, the acquisition of the 10 new six-coach ETS trains was made following the demand from Malaysians.
“The new electric trains are scheduled for operations in phases beginning early 2025,” added Loke.
Loke was responding to Rushdan Rusmi (PN-Padang Besar) who asked whether the Transport Ministry has plans to increase the number of ETS coaches due to increasing demand from Malaysians who wanted to visit Perlis in conjunction with Visit Perlis Year 2024 - 2025.
Rushman then raised a supplementary question, asking if the government has plans to introduce affordable fares this year and next year.
Loke said there are no plans to introduce affordable fares because ETS tickets are already cheap.
“For other trains, there are other programmes that give discounts to senior citizens and among others,” added Loke.
Howard Lee (PH-Ipoh Timor) then asked if there were plans by the Transport Ministry to increase the ETS frequency in conjunction with the upcoming Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration.
Loke then said there are always plans by the Transport Ministry to increase train frequencies in every festive season.
“The same goes to Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Usually we will let the normal-priced tickets be sold and in a few weeks before Hari Raya, there will be additional trains being introduced,” said Loke.
Loke is hoping for more youngsters to use public transports for travel.
“We will also add more temporary express buses so we can reduce the usage of motorcycles for travelling to far places,” added Loke.
