Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up Special Train from KL Sentral to Tumpat

The Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia is a seasonal overnight express train between KL Sentral and Tumpat which operates during peak holiday period with a single return trip, 1 from KL Sentral to Tumpat before the long holiday, and 1 from Tumpat to KL Sentral after the long holiday. For this trip on Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia, I caught Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up on the eve of Eid al-Adha or Hari Raya Haji from KL Sentral on the full route to Tumpat.

Sentral Kuala Lumpur Railway Station (KL Sentral)

I got to KL Sentral 1 hour early before the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia departure time at 11pm, and I was greeted with this sign at the regular waiting area outside Gate B.

There were plenty of people waiting already, but I sensed something was off.

True enough, boarding calls were made for ETS Business Class and ETS Platinum Standard EP9278 to Padang Besar, departing at 10.50pm. Oh I hope boarding for the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia does not start at 10.50pm like Butterworth style.

News reporters were covering the departure of Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia with cameras filming and reporters asking passengers for interviews.

At about 10.30pm, the waiting room sign was moved to Gate A. Hmm, I think I can guess what might happen.

KL Sentral Gate A

I did a small recce around Gate A to find more KTM staff around there.

The KITS gates were fully open with an unusually high amount of staff there.

The passenger information screen, however, did not reflect Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia.

Expecting boarding shortly, I opened my KTMB Mobile app to load my ticket. This took quite a while to load, probably with the amount of passengers in KL Sentral using the app as well.

My ticket for the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up from KL Sentral and Tumpat on the KTMB Mobile app. To avoid further connection issues whether in the high usage in KL Sentral or on board when travelling through areas with limited to no mobile connection, I took a screenshot of this ticket just in case.

The cameraman confirmed my suspicions about boarding from Gate A. If it wasn’t the place for the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up, he wouldn’t be here.

Boarding commenced at 10.40pm – 20 minutes before the scheduled departure time of Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up. Boarding calls were simply made by a staff saying “Tumpat” and the natural flow of passengers just streamed on to the escalator.

The Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up was ready at KL Sentral Platform 2 towards the south.

25 Class 25102 Pulau Besar

25102 Pulau Besar leads the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up from KL Sentral to Tumpat. The train runs long hood forward first to Gemas before changing directions with the cab facing Tumpat.

ADNS (Air-conditioned Day/Night Second)

I first headed to my booked ADNS (Air-conditioned Day/Night Second) coach at the front of the train (later the rear).

Coach C3 is towards the front of the train (later the rear).

The interior of the ADNS (Air-conditioned Day/Night Second) coach.

My booked lower berth at Berth 22. A goodie bag is given by KTM for all passengers on board the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia.

The overall space available on the bottom berth.

A look at the upper berth above me.

Each goodie bag contains a small bottle of mineral water, a layer cake, and a sweet potato crisp.

The western-style sitting toilet on board the ADNS.

The Asian-style squatting toilet on board the ADNS.

A remnant from the Ekspres Kembara JNK II has additional signs on the ADNS for mask wearing and taking photos.

AFC (Air-Conditioned First Class)

There is 1 AFC (Air-Conditioned First Class) coach attached on Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia, right at the front of the train (later the rear).

An interesting fare change for this Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia, the AFC (Air-Conditioned First Class) seat ticket is sold at almost half price on this Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia trip at only RM70, which makes it cost less than the ADNS (Air-conditioned Day/Night Second) berth ticket which on the other hand had its fare increased to RM83, which rightly should be the way since the AFC is just a seat rather than a proper bed on the ADNS.

Seats on the AFC (Air-Conditioned First Class) are laid out in a 2+1 configuration which can be rotated towards the direction of travel.

Another interesting addition on this Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia, the AFC (Air-Conditioned First Class) seat comes with a folded blanket.

ASC (Air-conditioned Second Class)

The majority of the coaches on Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia are ASC (Air-conditioned Second Class) with a regular 2+2 seating configuration.

ABC (Air-Conditioned Buffet Coach)

An ABC (Air-Conditioned Buffet Coach), also known by most passengers as canteen, is also attached on the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia.

A shot of the empty ABC before it gets busy.

Meals seem well stocked before departure from KL Sentral.

Seems like there’s a new menu for the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia. Maybe I’ll try some later (famous last words).

The existing ABC menu similar to the Ekspres Rakyat Timuran is also available.

Lots of snacks, drinks, packet mains, and loaves of bread are displayed on the counter.

There are 8 tables of 4 on board the ABC.

Seats are sprung up when not in use, allowing for each access to the aisle for the person in the window seat.

Chillax Coach

A special addition to the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia is the Chillax Coach.

The is an open space on board the train with synthetic grass and beanbags as a lounge car for all passengers to relax in.

The aisle remains in the middle for passengers to walk through the coach without taking their shoes off. If going onto the synthetic grass, you must remove your footwear.

A sign says no sleeping in the Chillax Coach. Let’s see.

There are only 5 beanbags available in the Chillax Coach, so if you want one, be there early to use it.

The Chillax Coach is basically an ASC (Hyundai-Padu Sedia) coach without seats.

A remnant from the Ekspres Koc Basikal (XKB) also indicates that the Chillax Coach is also the Surau on board the train.

The platform information screen is out of service at KL Sentral, but doesn’t matter for the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia since the train information isn’t loaded anyway.

The signal was set for the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up to depart KL Sentral before actual departure time.

The Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up departed at 11.02pm – 2 minutes delayed from schedule.

Passing by Bank Rakyat-Bangsar LRT Station.

Passing by Mid Valley Megamall.

Passing through MidValley Railway Halt on the single track due to EDTP works.

Ticket checks were carried out soon after departure, and I readied my ticket on the KTMB Mobile app for ticket checking.

Bandar Tasik Selatan Railway Station

Arriving at Bandar Tasik Selatan Railway Station at speed, which was just an illusion due to the long train since I’m at the front.

My front coach was out of the platform due to the long length of the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up.

The outdated station sign of Bandar Tasik Selatan Railway Station.

Kajang Railway Station

A similar illusion of approaching at speed was also experienced at Kajang Railway Station.

As Kajang Railway Station catered for long KTM Intercity trains before, the platform length was not a problem for the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up.

After departure from Kajang, the cleaners put up trash bags for rubbish to be thrown.

Seremban Railway Station

No problems with the platforms at Seremban Railway Station as well.

Pulau Sebang Railway Station (Tampin Railway Station)

The lights at platform lengths out of the usual 6-car were switched off at Pulau Sebang Railway Station (Tampin Railway Station).

Other than that, platforms don’t seem to be an issue here although the locomotive is out of the platform.

Gemas Railway Station

The Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up makes a longer stop at Gemas Railway Station as the locomotive has to run around to the other side and the train changes direction to head north on to the East Coast Line.

I’m not sure if this is a platform length issue, but the locomotive and PGC is way out of the platform and only 1 door of the AFC can be accessed from the platform.

The Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up train length was too long for me to walk to the other end to satisfy my curiosity at 2.30am, so I just left it at that.

25102 Pulau Besar running around to the other end of the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up to continue the journey towards Tumpat.

I walked over to the Chillax Coach, and lo and behold, passengers were using it to sleep in front of the “no sleeping” sign.

Departing from Gemas with a view of disused Malayan Tiger Train coaches.

The Tren Aral Gemas is now also disused.

Passing by the stabled 93 Class ETS from the ETS Gold 9425dn from Padang Besar for next morning’s ETS Gold 9420up to Padang Besar.

After departure from Gemas, I went to sleep as it was almost 3am.

Kuala Lipis Railway Station

I woke up at Kuala Lipis Railway Station at about 8am as the sun was shining through the curtains.

Just as I got to the door for photos, the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up was ready to depart from Kuala Lipis Railway Station at 8.05am.

61 Class DMUs are stabled at Kuala Lipis Railway Station awaiting their next revenue run.

My window is not ideal for photos out.

Since it’s the morning, I decided to head over to the ABC to get some breakfast.

The morning crowd was serious with the queue starting from the Chillax Coach. Don’t be fooled by the number of passengers in the queue as each passenger would have more than 1 order – a representative is sent on to the queue to buy food for the whole family.

Case in point – the shelf was full of food when I approached.

After 1 customer a few turns ahead of be made his purchased, this was what’s left.

As such, the queues were slow moving and many main food items were sold out.

I finally got to the front after more than 1 hour of queuing, and ordered my breakfast and lunch together as I wasn’t going to be in this queue for another round for lunch.

Remember the new menu? Nothing from the Meal Ready To Eat section and Cream Soup was available. Only instant noodles and selected canned drinks were available from this menu.

The main menu pretty much ran on the existing ABC menu with limited mains options. Only mains on the shelf were available at any point of time.

With the long queue, a table magically freed up when I was done with paying, so I had my breakfast at the ABC itself.

For breakfast, I ordered a Bihun Goreng (RM8) with Kopi Ais (RM3.50).

The Bihun Goreng comes with a fried egg which makes it a perfect breakfast meal. The taste was plain but it was as it should be.

The Bihun Goreng was freshly microwaved before my payment so it was still piping hot, although I think the dish name should be changed to Bihun Microwave instead since I don’t think these meals were gorenged on board.

With the high demand for food on board and huge passenger numbers, perhaps 2 ABCs should be attached on the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia in future at different parts of the train and more food should be brought up to prevent overcrowding and to actually fulfill orders. There were many families behind me who had to wait for the next batch of food to be ready or to order Roti Bakar only.

I finished my meal just as limestone hills were popping up. This means my breakfast experience at the ABC took almost 2 hours from Kuala Lipis to Gua Musang.

Taking the right in to Gua Musang Railway Station.

The Shuttle Timuran 51dn was waiting in the loop line at Gua Musang Railway Station for crossing with the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up.

Gua Musang Railway Station

A longer stop was scheduled at Gua Musang Railway Station for crossing and for passengers to buy food from the station.

The Shuttle Timuran 51dn departed first, 8 minutes late at 10.03am due to the late arrival of my Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up.

The Shuttle Timuran 51dn departing from Gua Musang Railway Station.

I decided to walk ahead to the station canteen since there was about 10 minutes to departure.

Alas, there was nothing substantial for sale. Perhaps the previous Ekspres Rakyat Timuran 26up passengers bought them all and the canteen wasn’t expecting another trainload of passengers to buy breakfast.

Over at the Chillax Coach, the crowd is growing with passengers having breakfast.

Departing from Gua Musang Railway Station on time at 10.15am. From here, the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up ran all the way on time.

Passing by Gua Musang town.

Passing through the old Gua Musang Railway Station.

The old Gua Musang Railway Station is still accessible to the public.

Sidings behind the old Gua Musang Railway Station are used to stable maintenance of way vehicles.

Entering the loop line of Bertam Baru Railway Station for crossing with Shuttle Timuran 53dn.

Bertam Baru Railway Station Operational Stop

The Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up stopped at Bertam Baru Railway Station for about 25 minutes for crossing with Shuttle Timuran 53dn.

Passengers were allowed to alight at Bertam Baru Railway Station to stretch our legs.

The station sign of Bertam Baru Railway Station with the northbound token catcher.

The façade of Bertam Baru Railway Station from the platform.

I had wanted to walk all the way to the front of Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up for a picture of this curve, but it was too far out to do so safely.

Meanwhile, here are some day time pictures of Bertam Baru Railway Station.

Bertam Baru Railway Station has drawn a mark on the water level reached during the 2014-2015 Malaysia floods on 23 December 2014.

There is a preserved set of semaphore and point equipment at Bertam Baru Railway Station.

The façade of Bertam Baru Railway Station from the road is functional, with passenger access for services directly via the platform.

The Shuttle Timuran 53dn arrived at before time, with the tokens ready to be exchanged.

Shuttle Timuran 53dn operated with a double set.

With additional staff on hand from the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up, the Dabong-Bertam Baru token from Shuttle Timuran 53dn was passed to an operational staff.

The Shuttle Timuran 53dn then picked up the Bertam Baru-Gua Musang token before slowing down to a stop.

With the low platforms at Bertam Baru Railway Station, the steps on board the 61 Class DMU are necessary for passenger access.

The second 61 Class DMU set extends out to the grass portion of the platform with the limited platform in the south preventing the Shuttle Timuran 53dn to stop further up.

The coupling between the twin set 61 Class DMUs forming a 4+4 car train.

A strangely busy day at Bertam Baru Railway Station with 2 long trains.

The Shuttle Timuran 53dn was ready to depart Bertam Baru Railway Station on time at 11.32am.

Following the departure of Shuttle Timuran 53dn, the Station Master proceeds to issue the Bertam Baru-Dabong token for my Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up.

I headed back on to my Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up as the train would depart once the Station Master gives the token to the driver of my train.

The Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up departed from Bertam Baru Railway Station at 11.38am.

Taking the right curve out of Bertam Baru Railway Station to Clementi Bridge.

Approaching Clementi Bridge.

Crossing the Clementi Bridge over Sungai Betis.

Heading through the jungle.

Crossing the Peel Bridge or Kemubu Bridge over Sungai Galas.

Passing by Kemubu Railway Station.

Dabong Railway Station

My Coach C3 at the end of the train did not make it to the platform of Dabong Railway Station. Nevertheless, some passengers hopped off here anyway.

It was a long walk to the main station building so I did not venture out as the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up was about to depart.

Passing by SMK Dabong and SK Dabong, the initial reasons for why Dabong Railway Station is so important, until everyone created Train to Dabong as a viral domestic holiday destination.

It’s time for lunch, and I took out my previously ordered Nasi Goreng from the breakfast ABC queue from the plastic bag.

I ordered a Nasi Goreng (RM8) and a can of Teh Tarik (RM3.50).

The Nasi Goreng was enough to fill me up for lunch. That’s the most important I guess. By now, the Nasi Goreng was actually Nasi Microwave Sejuk anyway.

Passing through Manek Urai Railway Station.

Crossing the truss bridge over Sungai Lekir.

Krai Railway Station

My Coach C3 was slightly out of the platform of Krai Railway Station, sharing space with grazing cows.

More passengers started to alight at Krai Railway Station.

The Krai Railway Station yard has Emrail locomotives stabled in it.

22 Class 22115 Kuala Lipis sitting in Krai yard.

Another 22 Class locomotive and 17 Class shunter sitting in Krai yard.

In the afternoon, the Chillax Coach was filling up with passengers praying.

The view when sitting down in the Chillax Coach.

Crossing the Guillemard Bridge over the Kelantan River.

Tanah Merah Railway Station

More passengers alighted at Tanah Merah Railway Station.

Tanah Merah can be easily identified from around the town by the water tower bearing its namesake.

Departing from Tanah Merah Railway Station with the crowd leaving the station after alighting from Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up.

A new viaduct has been built over the major junction and railway crossing at Tanah Merah.

Some local users still use the at-grade crossing.

Approaching Pasir Mas Railway Station.

Pasir Mas Railway Station

More passengers alighted at Pasir Mas Railway Station.

Wakaf Bharu Railway Station

The rest of the train passengers alighted at Wakaf Bharu Railway Station which is the last station serving a major town along the line – Kota Bharu.

The very long Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up disrupting traffic on the railway crossing after Wakaf Bharu Railway Station.

I started walking to the front of the train to snap the locomotive picture later at the end, and I think the ADNS wouldn’t make it past the Tumpat railway crossing anyway.

Walking through the only ASC (ICF-Padu Sedia) attached.

Walking through the other 8 ASC (Hyundai-Padu Sedia) attached.

When I reached the front-most coach, the power went out, leaving only emergency lighting. I’m not sure if the PGC was switched off early or that there was a power trip.

Approaching Tumpat Railway Station.

Crossing the Tumpat railway crossing which is going to stay closed for quite some time.

Tumpat Railway Station

Tumpat Railway Station‘s renovations have still not been completed.

The Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up arrived at Tumpat Railway Station on time at 3.53pm right on schedule.

25102 Pulau Besar after finishing her passenger duties at Tumpat Railway Station.

The end of the East Coast Line is just ahead on the headshunt.

25102 Pulau Besar decoupled from the empty Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia 1028up rake. Round engine can only be done after the Shuttle Timuran 57dn departs from Tumpat Railway Station Platform 2 as the line on Platform 2 is the locomotive’s escape route.

Heading down the platform to exit the station.

The train schedule posted at Tumpat Railway Station.

The façade of Tumpat Railway Station which is still undergoing renovations.

I’m not sure why the overhead bridge to Platform 2 has to be so high.

And true to my prediction, the ADNS did not even make it past the level crossing with the ABC blocking the crossing.

From here, I headed for a little bit of joyrides and explorations before I headed back to Singapore following this special train trip.

Conclusion 

Overall, the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia is a good social service by KTM Berhad for the festive season despite a definite revenue loss-making session here. It may not be the fastest or cheapest way to get from KL to Kelantan even after including traffic jams, due to the huge detour via Gemas, but it is probably the most comfortable way. The fastest way from KL to Kelantan via train is not by ETS to Gemas, but by Pahang Lin Siong bus to Kuala Lipis and continuing on by Shuttle Timuran.

Also, seeing that such additional coaches are available for the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia train service, Ekspres Rakyat Timuran services should be beefed up when the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia other charter trains are not running rather than just keeping these coaches in storage.

The current KVDT works between KL Sentral and Kajang is making scheduling the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia very difficult. Perhaps KTM Berhad should have considered starting the Ekspres Khas Keluarga Malaysia train at Kajang instead so that an earlier departure time from the Klang Valley can be achieved, and thus an earlier arrival time in Kelantan would be more convenient for passengers too.