KUALA LUMPUR: Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) is offering free rides to Klang Valley KTM commuters on Jan 24 and 25 in conjunction with the Thaipusam festival, which falls on Jan 25.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said commuters would 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 Jan 25,“ he told a press conference at the Batu Caves KTM Station here today.
Loke announced that additional KTM Komuter services would operate around the clock for four days from Jan 23 to 26, with 28 stations operating 24 hours throughout this period compared to 26 stations last year.
A total of 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 9.55 pm from Pulau Sebang to Batu Caves on Jan 23, with a one-hour train frequency.
“The extra commuter services from the Port Klang station to Batu Caves will begin at 11.39 pm, 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, Loke said KTMB also offers four additional Electric Train Services (ETS) with an additional 3,150 tickets from Jan 24 to 28, namely two services a day for the Butterworth-KL Sentral and KL Sentral-Butterworth routes on Jan 24 and 25 and two services a day for the Padang Besar-KL Sentral and KL Sentral-Padang Besar routes on Jan 26 to 28.
He said ticket sales for these additional ETS trains would open on Monday (Jan 15) at noon.
In a separate development, Loke said Free RapidKL bus services will also be available in Kuala Lumpur and Penang on Jan 24 and Jan 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.
According to Loke, for the free round-trip shuttle bus service to Batu Caves, Rapid Bus would collaborate with the police, especially the Gombak District Police Headquarters, to ensure the smooth movement of buses. – Bernama
