Work took me back to my hometown of Ipoh, a place I should visit more often as it's just a quick train ride from Kuala Lumpur. For the past 4 years or so with the completion of the electrified rain tracks, the Electric Train Service or ETS has become a very popular way to travel up north to Ipoh. There use to be a non-stop service that took 1 hour 58 minutes but now there is only a limited stop "gold" service that takes 2 hours 20 minutes.
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| The Korean made EMU departed on the dot at 0900hrs |
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| Only a standard class is available |
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| Excellent legroom and well maintained |
The service has a few Cabin Attendants that hide in the cafe area the whole trip. The F&B menu is more limited compared to what they had before. No cold soda's just coffee, tea and Milo. So like for all train trips in Malaysia, if you don't want a carbohydrate only meal cooked in oil......bring your own food.
The Ipoh railway Station is a large imposing landmark. On of the most beautiful buildings in the country and just had undergone a major renovation. Sadly only a small portion of the building is open. The ticketing and waiting hall is small and congested which is so unbecoming of such a large building.
My return trip was on the KTM intercity service, the Ekspres Rakyat that runs the length of the peninsular between Butterworth in the north to Woodlands in Singapore.
The train arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule and departed on time. I was traveling in first class, of which the two first class coaches had different seats. The AFC or Aircon First Class coach on the KTM intercity service has been in dire need of a refurbishment and on this train there were 2 versions of the refurbished coaches. I was seated in the "brown" coach which is the only one in this design and was done a few years ago.
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| Coach R1 |
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| The "brown" version |
I must say while the coach needed a good deep clean, I do like the leather seat and the marron carpet. Does have an exclusive look.
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| An almost full coach |
The second AFC coach was in the latest "blue" seats. They do look more comfortable and these have a foot rest and seat pocket that the "brown" AFC didn't have.
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| The blue seats look much better |
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| The blue carpet and seats does make for a brighter cabin |
The trip was a smooth one and arrived on time in KL Sentral. Travel by train is by far a more stress free and comfortable way to travel and I would choose it over any other land transport.
