Malaysian Railways - On Time - Sometimes?

The motto on the impeccably ironed white shirt said it all – “on time - every time”.

That is the somewhat dubious motto or maybe the aspirational ideal of the Malaysian Railway System – KTM.

Recent experiences on the train between Singapore and KL, might have to make a rethink probable, to maybe, at best, “on time, some times ”.

The north bound train from Woodlands was 3 hours late and involved a significant mucking about with a dummy train leaving Woodlands and a major  “change trains” at the tiny station of Kempas Baru.  Not to mention that no one was told anything.  And significant shunting of trains to accomplish the task.  ALL passengers were somewhat bemused at the hijinks involved – including the no doubt long suffering local passengers.

Then even before the journey from KL to Woodlands in Singapore commenced we were informed of an hour delay in leaving KL. I suppose there is an air conditioned lounge to sit around in, but hey………there was a dinner appointment in Singapore for this evening.  THAT is history!  There is no possible way to make up an hour or more in the 6 hour trip.

While the trip is usually an okay journey and watching the country side slide past is also okay, getting to “on time, most of the time” might be a better ideal to aspire to in the near term.

With an election due in May and a proposal for a high speed train by 2020, a better performing railway system might be a good idea.  Over to you, the new Malaysian Government to get something done better.