Friday, December 11, 2015

ETS stands for Electric Train Service

..in case you didn't know.

I have been toying seriously with the idea of travelling up to Ipoh on the ETS because I've been told it takes only 2 hours and 30 minutes from the KL station to the Ipoh train station.

How cool is that?

I am an avid train traveller, if you must know. Been travelling on the train since I was a kid as I was born in Singapore and after my family and I moved to Malaya in 1959, we would travel back to our kampung in Singapore by train during the school term holidays when my father was not able to drive us down.  During my teen years, we would travel on our own by train to visit our relatives in the island republic.

Overseas as a student and later for work and private visits, I'd make a point of travelling by train.

So really, I like train rides.

When the Kelana Jaya-Gombak LRT line began operation in September 1998, I was a regular Sunday commuter together with my children, nieces and nephews just for a funtime from Kelana Jaya to KLCC.

I wanted them to be familiar with train rides for one day they might just need to use it on a regular basis.
By the way, the Kelana Jaya-Gombak line that serves the Petaling Jaya South region - central KL is 29 km in length. It  is the fourth longest fully automated driverless metro system in the world, after Dubai Metro in Dubai(74.6 km), the SkyTrain in Greater VancouverCanada (68.7 km) and the Lille Metro VAL in LilleFrance (32 km).

Back to the our new ETS train service from KL to Butterworth and Padang Besar that has been in operation for quite some time this year.

I have read blogposts by people who have been on the KL-Ipoh service and they enjoyed it.  Mostly great reviews. Very appealing, this idea of an ETS ride.

After all , the ETS Class 93 high speed train service is dubbed the Malaysian 'Bullet Train'.

According to official data, Malaysia's first ETS train from Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh began operations on Aug 12, 2010. The first South Korean made trains can travel at speeds of 160km per hour and take only two hours to reach Ipoh making train travel much faster. This time around, the Chinese made ETS Train KL to Butterworth and Padang Besar will only take less than 5 hours. 

The fares, of course,  are pricier than those of regular KTMB commuter but then, you'll be paying for a service that's way faster. The fastest, in fact. 

For fares and schedule, check HERE  

also HERE
Where to go :
Kuala Lumpur Railway station (and ETS HQ) – Main Lobby – +6032272-3392
Kuala Lumpur Sentral – Level 2 – +603 2272 3392
Ipoh Railway Station – Main Lobby – +605 254 0481
The On-board Facilities:
  • Cafe Car and trolley service
  • LED televisions at both ends of each carriage
  • Disabled friendly toilets and priority seating for OKU
  • Interior CCTV system for all coaches
  • Power socket (one for each seat row of 2 passengers)
Looks like it will not be long before I try it out.

Here's from Tripadvisor.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do share on your experiences taking the ETS to Ipoh!

I plan to take it all the way to Arau and jalan-jalan around Perlis.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

@danontheroad

I certainly will.

but i have read some reviews from a couple of blogs..

weehingthong.wordpress and vixendeity.blogspot
a

Dan Hass said...

I'd say the most comfortable 200km train ride. You hear none of the usual KTM gedegung gedegang prapppaaapprappattt noises for sure. No goyang goyang, smooth as on air and you doze off easily. And you get to see the speed above the doorway in front of you. It gets to 140 and even 150 in a minute or less. Just a few stops, one halfway in Tanjung Malim and two other very brief stops. I know it's less than 2 and a half hours.

Anonymous said...

I take the ETS from Ipoh to Kl all the time. If I want to meet friends for lunch in KL I will take the 9 or 10 am train which will get me in Sentral about 11.50 or 12.30 and give me plenty of time to get to the city centre. Then I take the 3pm or if I want to do some other other things I'll take the evening trains and get back home befor 10 pm. My peaceful, no jam home with less environmental pollution. I have stopped driving to KL unless we are going with a full car load. Much more economical, less stressfull and so far always on schedule. I recommend the ETS to anyone travelling along its routes.

Anonymous said...

You'll be surprised that on weekends, the traffic is heavy - to the extent of trains being full.

So,if you have a travel date in mind, book in advance (though 30 days is the max they'll allow), at the station or by internet.