Saturday, October 2, 2010

KTMB and ETS Train - Ipoh~KL Shuttle Train...

Last 2 weeks, Jimmy and I went to KL by train..This is our first time to ride the shuttle train from Ipoh to KL Central..I have called KTMB Call Centre (1300-88-5862) for advance ticket booking to avoid long queue at Ipoh Railway Station on Monday..After that, Jimmy went to collect the ticket after work at 7.30pm..However, the only Malay lady staff claimed that she will not provide service to those customer who came AFTER 7.30pm..The reason is their system very slow..After she handles all the tasks, it will be almost 8pm which is their rest time and of course she needs rest..

Jimmy does not like her behavior..There is a Malay guy who quickly apologized to Jimmy and asked Jimmy to visit on the next day..Jimmy went to collect on Tuesday, but he was told that the system down..And Jimmy went there on Wednesday, unfortunately, system down again..We are really disappointed with their service and system..Finally, we went there on Thursday..The final chance to collect the ticket because our journey on Friday..We are totally disappointed as we could not collect our ticket at the end..What we can do is buy the ticket on the spot when we ride the train..

On Friday, we reached Ipoh Railway Station early morning..There are quite many passengers..Jimmy bought the 9.15am ticket..Again, their system down, thus we could only get the hand-written ticket..We bought 2nd class (RM22) instead of economy class (RM12) as it had been sold out..

The interior of the train is normal..We could see that they did not maintain the train..It is quite dirty..We took back forward seat..In front of us, there is an LCD tv..But it is off all the while..The journey from Ipoh to KL Central takes about 3 hours..After reached KL Central, we went to buy the return ticket..We got the number of 3252 and have to wait for 26 customers..However, we only waited for 5 minutes and that is our turn..The fast action and well managed system in KL is pretty better than that of Ipoh..Should Ipoh Railway Station learn from them?

The economy class had been sold out for return ticket..We decided to ride ETS train (Electric Train Services)..This ETS train just launched on August of 2010..The journey from KL to Ipoh takes 2 hours only..Somemore, they are having ticket promotion which is RM30 from KL to Ipoh..Instead of taking the 3 hours normal train of RM22, we would like to try this new launched 2 hours train..Hehe..The staffs who work at ETS counter are really friendly and willing for help..I gave them a 4 stars out of 5 for the service..

Our train supposed arrived at 6.48pm..But it had been late for 10 minutes..When the train reached, all the passengers were rushed to go up the train..The train door will be closed in 1 minute time..The "train hostess" asked us to go up the train first then only get our seat..

This ETS train has 6 coaches (A, B, C, D E and F)..The interior of the train is very clean and nice..The seat cushions are new and clean..Again, we bought back forward seat..There is an LCD tv in front of us and it is functioning..It showed the places of interest in Perak..Besides, on the left top of the LCD tv, it showed the speed of the train..The fastest speed that the train achieved is 150km per hour..It is really fast!!

Furthermore, they have small cafeteria at coach C..There are 2 "train hostesses" serve us for the food and beverage..They sell Mee Cup, Bread, Mineral Water, Coffee and so on..What a good idea!! The price is quite reasonable also..

Around 9pm, we reached Ipoh..It really took 2 hours..I highly recommend it to my readers because it is worth for money..Nevertheless, RM30 is promotion price..They will adjust the price sooner..It is better to try it earlier..Hehe..


The Only 2 Active KTMB Counters..


ETS - Fast Train


Hand-Written Of KTMB Ticket


The Interior Of The KTMB Shuttle Train


LCD TV


Our Number At KTMB Counter


The Speed Of ETS Train


Interior Of ETS Train


ETS Ticket

5 comments:

  1. Yes..I totally agree with what you say..I just found out the ETS and I'm totally regret of buying the shuttle train (I just bought it)..
    And the Malay Lady at the counter was totally RUDE..

    Seems like you're from Ipoh too~
    Nice to meet you..
    I'm Lizzie from Ipoh too~

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  2. Hi Lizzie,

    Nice to meet you too..Ya, I am from Ipoh too..Hehe..

    The Malay lady's services really bad..She always use "systme down" as her excuse..You can try out the ETS, it is really nice and good..So far, I did not hear any bad comment about it..:)

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  3. Hi Lizzie and Abbie,

    Ya, totally agree about it, the services in ETS is much better, the staff even offered me kuih today. Any of you need ticket to back from ipoh-kl on 7 november at 1115 am? i have emergency that day, so i need to sell the ticket out. If any of your friends need it, let me know. call/sms me at 0149052479

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  4. Hi Felicia,

    ETS services really good..Hehe..
    Oh, I will help you to ask around. :)

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  5. Hi girls. Im Ipohrians as well and just recently got to know about this ETS trains services when Im going back by normal KTM diesel engine train. Was dumbfounded when I seen the new train set for departure at Ipoh station. Even the promotional price isn't cheap as it is at rm30. It is going to be raised even higher after that and I suspect its going to cater to the up market people of Ipoh and KL ppl only.

    ReplyDelete