ETS Platinum Standard 9371dn from Kuala Lumpur to Gemas by KTM 93/2 Class EMU

It’s finally time to start Revenge Travel Semenanjung to revisit the stations after 2 years of not riding KTM trains. For the first leg of the journey, after a good night’s stay at The Chow Kit, I decided to kick start my Peninsular Malaysia train journey from the grand old dame of Kuala Lumpur Railway Station with ETS Platinum Standard 9371dn from Kuala Lumpur to Gemas.

Heading to the platforms through the ticket gates.

Kuala Lumpur Railway Station

The entrance to the platform, as I know it, has only KTM Komuter gates installed. The staff on hand told me to go to the gates ahead in the concourse for ETS ticket scanning.

I purchased all my tickets for this trip on the KTMB Integrated Ticketing System (KITS), which is the best thing that KTM has done in terms of ticketing process in recent years.

My information is pre-filled once my account is done up properly, seat selection is a breeze, and payment goes through smoothly at first attempt always. The website also does not crash much when tickets are first released.

And even when booking all my tickets on the KTMB Integrated Ticketing System (KITS) website, my tickets are synced to the KTMB Mobile app with my same logged in account, which makes it super convenient for my tickets to come in handy at all times, as long as I have data on the railway line.

The new KITS ticket gates look too familiar.

Scan the ticket QR code on the KITS gate QR code reader. Brighten your screen if scanning the ticket QR code directly from your phone.

Once scanned, the gates open to let me in to the platform.

I arrived at the platform 15 minutes before departure, just in case the train would arrive early, since it’s an ETS Platinum service from Butterworth with no stops between Kampar and Kuala Lumpur.

And true enough, my ETS Platinum Standard 9371dn was puling in before time.

KTM 93/2 Class ETS 217 would be bringing me from Kuala Lumpur to Gemas.

The wraparound advertisement on ETS 217 continuously reminds me that I am still in corona times.

Quite a number of passengers disembarked at Kuala Lumpur, though some erroneously as they thought this was KL Sentral, and they re-boarded again.

My coach B was still quite full, and my seat was still taken up for some reason, so I decided to stand at the doors for the short 1-station hop to KL Sentral where more passengers would disembark.

Departing from Kuala Lumpur on time at 12.08pm.

The Business Class steward gets ready to thank disembarking Business Class passengers at KL Sentral.

Sentral Kuala Lumpur Railway Station (KL Sentral)

Making a brief stop at the northern end of KL Sentral Platform 2 to disembark alighting passengers.

Boarding passengers wait at the southern end of KL Sentral Platform 2. The train would move ahead after alighting passengers have alighted.

My booked table seat was still taken up by a family. I asked them where they were disembarking, and they said Bandar Tasik Selatan, so I guess I’ll just let them sit in my seat then.

I’m surprised that seat hopping during the COVID-19 pandemic is still allowed in Malaysia. On flights, this would strictly not be allowed for contact tracing purposes.

I picked a seat 2 rows behind my original seat, looking out if there were boarding passengers who were supposed to be in this seat instead.

The airline seat tray table also has COVID-19 ads on it.

The legroom available in Standard Class on board the KTM 93/2 Class EMU.

Not many passengers were boarding the ETS Platinum Standard 9371dn from KL Sentral, which is understandable.

The ETS Platinum Standard 9371dn departed from KL Sentral on time at 12.18pm. However, the train stopped outside beside Bangsar LRT Station for a while before continuing on.

Passing through Simpang Pelabuhan Klang.

Passing by MidValley Railway Halt.

Departing KL with a view of the KL skyline from the opposite side of the train.

Passing by Salak Selatan Railway Station slowly with ongoing EDTP works.

Bandar Tasik Selatan Railway Station

Approaching Bandar Tasik Selatan Railway Station with a view of Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS).

Making a brief stop at Bandar Tasik Selatan Railway Station.

Here, I got my assigned table seat back as the family in my seat had disembarked at Bandar Tasik Selatan Railway Station.

The legroom available in the table seat. The legroom is generous without a seat neighbour in front, but may be restricted and bothersome if the 4 table seats are full with strangers.

The cleanliness of the table seat windows (ie non-emergency) and other non-emergency windows are left to be desired.

Arriving at Kajang Railway Station with a very dusty window.

Kajang Railway Station

Making a brief stop at Kajang Railway Station.

As it was past noon already, I headed over to the ETS Café at Coach C to grab some lunch.

It wasn’t an extensive choice of main meals on this short train journey, with just Nasi Lemak, Fried Bee Hoon, and Chicken Lasagna available.

I ordered a Nasi Lemak, as one does in Malaysia.

The Nasi Lemak was strangely watery, with the sambal and rendang coming across as soupy. Never thought I’d describe a Nasi Lemak that way. It might be something with the microwaving I guess.

On this ETS trip, I charged my phone with the available USB power socket as long as possible to prepare for my KTM Intercity rides later in the afternoon and night.

Seremban Railway Station

Approaching Seremban Railway Station. I was preparing to spot some YDMs in the yard beside, but seems like everything is gone, including the yard.

Making a brief stop at Seremban Railway Station.

Passing by Seremban EMU Depot.

I wonder which set is this and what happened to it.

Passing by the headshunt of Seremban EMU Depot following the alignment towards Port Dickson.

Some empty interior shots of the KTM 93/2 Class ETS with most passengers from the north disembarked.

Passing by Sungai Gadut Railway Station on a train, as compared with flying past it when entering KL.

As I was still hungry, I popped by the ETS Café again to get another lunch. This time, I opted for the Chicken Lasagna (RM9.50).

The Chicken Lasagna was also quite watery, which I now suspect has to do with the on-board microwave. Thankfully, a mushy Chicken Lasagna is better than a watery Rendang, so this was still kind of acceptable for me. There’s quite a lot of meat and sauce, with not much pasta inside it though.

Overtaking a cargo train in tandem before Pulau Sebang (Tampin) with both heading south together on the double track. This is Landbridge 163dn from North Port KTMB Line No. 9 (Port Klang Terminal North Port) to PTP Terminal (Port of Tanjung Pelepas Terminal).

Batang Melaka Railway Station

Making a brief stop at Batang Melaka Railway Station.

Passing by the Gemas wye linking the KTM Central Line and the KTM East Coast Line directly.

Passing by the Gemas Depot at a distance.

Some disused AEC coaches stabling in Gemas Depot.

Disused BSC coaches stabling before Gemas Railway Station.

Approaching Gemas Railway Station.

Gemas Railway Station

My ETS Platinum Standard 9371dn arrived at Gemas Railway Station at 2.39pm – 4 minutes delayed from schedule.

My continuing Ekspres Selatan 45dn was already waiting at Platform 5 for a convenient cross-platform transfer.

KTM 93/2 Class ETS 217 at Gemas.

A cross-platform transfer is provided between the ETS Platinum Standard 9371dn and Ekspres Selatan 45dn at Gemas Platforms 5 and 6. Passengers continuing on the Ekspres Selatan 45dn to the ETS Platinum Standard 9371dn are allowed to proceed into the train directly instead of being cleared out of the platform.

More disused MTT coaches stabling at the Gemas Railway Station siding.

While I could simply cross over to the next train, I left the station for a while to resupply on drinks for the next leg of the journey and meet up with friends.

Heading out of the platform via the linkbridge.

Scan the ticket QR code on the KITS ticket gate to exit.

Conclusion

Overall, still not a very efficient journey to get to southern Malaysia from KL as with about 2.5 hours of travel, I’m still only at the middle point of the train journey as compared with being near to Yong Peng already if I had departed by bus from TBS to Larkin instead.

But hey, the point of Revenge Travel Semenanjung is to visit the railway stations by train, so for this journey, no complaints about this journey this time, since this is what I signed up myself for.