KUALA LUMPUR: Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTM Berhad) will provide KTM Komuter train services round-the-clock for four days and three nights beginning Jan 19 in conjunction with the Thaipusam festival at Batu Caves.
These trains will run on the Seremban-Batu Caves, Batu Caves-Seremban, Port Klang-KL Sentral and KL Sentral-Port Klang routes to facilitate transport for the people, especially Hindu devotees and tourists, to and from Batu Caves, KTM Berhad general manager of operations S. Mahendran said yesterday.
“Additional trains will run after the normal operating hours, providing 132 additional train services to raise the total number of services to 934. We expect over two million people to use these train services during Thaipusam this year compared to the 1.3 million during the festival last year,” he told a press conference at the KTM Komuter Batu Caves station.
Mahendran also said that a train shuttle service will run on the Batu Caves-Sentul-Batu Caves route to avert congestion of passengers at the Batu Caves station.
Bus services would also be provided, free of charge, from the Sentul station to the KL Sentral station, and passengers can continue their journey by train or the other means of transport to their destinations, he said.
Mahendran said more than 400 KTM Berhad staff and auxiliary policemen would be deployed for the duration to ensure smooth operation of the train services and the security of the passengers.
“The fare has to be paid only with the use of the Komuter Link or Touch n Go cards. In view of Thaipusam, the Komuter Link card will be sold for RM3 instead of RM5 from Jan 19 to 22.
“Senior citizens, disabled people and children aged between two and six have to buy special tickets to obtain a 50 per cent discount,” he said.
Meanwhile, KTM Komuter general manager Khair Johari Ishak said people who use the Grab e-hailing service would be given a RM5 discount on the fare to and from selected KTM stations when they use the promo code GRAB2KTMBC. — Bernama
