KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) is offering free rides to Klang Valley KTM commuters on January 24 and 25 in conjunction with the Thaipusam festival, which falls on January 25.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said commuters will still need to scan (check in and check out) at the automated control gates (ACG) at the stations during that period.
“Some 250,000 passengers are expected to use the service during this period, peaking on January 25,” he said during a press conference at the Batu Caves KTM Station today.
Loke also announced that additional KTM Komuter services will operate around the clock for four days from January 23 to January 26, with 28 stations operating 24 hours throughout this period compared to 26 stations last year.
33 trains are for the Batu Caves-Pulau Sebang-Batu Caves route, with 39 for the Batu Caves-Port Klang-Batu Caves route.
“The additional commuter services will begin at 9.55pm from Pulau Sebang to Batu Caves on January 23, with a one-hour train frequency.
“The extra commuter services from the Port Klang station to Batu Caves will begin at 11.39pm, also with a one-hour frequency.
“There are no additional train services from Tanjung Malim to Batu Caves and vice versa. However, users from this route can take the commuter trains from Tanjung Malim station to Putra, Bank Negara, Kuala Lumpur, and KL Sentral stations and transfer to KTM Komuter trains to Batu Caves,” he said.
Meanwhile, KTMB also offers four additional Electric Train Services (ETS) with an additional 3,150 tickets from January 24 to January 28.
They include two services a day for the Butterworth-KL Sentral and KL Sentral-Butterworth routes on January 24 and January 25 and two services a day for the Padang Besar-KL Sentral and KL Sentral-Padang Besar routes on January 26 to January 28.
Loke said ticket sales for these additional ETS trains would open on Monday (January 15) at noon.
In a separate development, Free RapidKL bus services will also be available in Kuala Lumpur and Penang on January 24 and January 25.
For Kuala Lumpur, the free bus services are from the Pasar Seni LRT station to Batu Caves, from the Gombak LRT station to Batu Caves, and from the Kampung Batu MRT station to Batu Caves, and one route in Penang (jetty-Adventist).
“There are three bus services in Kuala Lumpur and five in Penang that will pass through areas where Thaipusam celebrations will take place. Information for these routes can be obtained by visiting the myrapid.com.my website,” he said.
Loke added that for the free round-trip shuttle bus service to Batu Caves, Rapid Bus will collaborate with the police, especially the Gombak district police headquarters, to ensure the buses’ smooth movement.
— Bernama
