It’s time for KTM Komuter Klang Valley to be split into 4 lines

KTM, KTM Komuter, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Melaka, RailTravel Thoughts, Seremban, Tampin, Tanjung Malim, Train Reviews 2 comments

It’s time for KTM Komuter Klang Valley to be split into 4 lines

The KTM Komuter Klang Valley Sector has been experiencing a dearth of services ever since the KVDT rehabilitation project began in 2016 and is now forecasted to be ready only in 2030. Until then, low KTM Komuter Klang Valley Sector train frequencies are to be expected since only 1 single track is in operation on affected routes.

As of 8 July 2023, the ridiculously-long stretch between Senawang and Sungai Buloh, and Petaling and Sentul is running on a single track, which is reminiscent of the Jungle Railway and the former railway in Singapore. Imagine running essential commuter trains from the suburbs to and from the capital city of Malaysia on a single track with scheduled crossings like rural railway lines.

In order to not make the entire network suffer, and to recover what little services that can be recovered, I suggest properly splitting the KTM Komuter Klang Valley Sector into 4 distinct lines for easier navigation, understanding, and service reliability for passengers during this KVDT project period.

KTM Komuter Klang Valley Sector in 2023

The KTM Komuter Klang Valley Sector currently runs on 2 official lines, the Batu Caves-Pulau Sebang (Tampin) Line and the Tanjung Malim-Pelabuhan Klang Line.

The Batu Caves-Pulau Sebang (Tampin) Line is currently severely impacted by the Senawang–Sentul single track sector with trains only around every once per hour including shortworking trips.

The Tanjung Malim-Pelabuhan Klang Line is also split into 2 distinct sectors already, with trains not actively travelling on the KL Sentral–Sungai Buloh sector due to the need to cater for ETS trains accessing KL Sentral with the limited track slots available, and with the upcoming KL Sentral–Petaling single-track sector on 8 July 2023.

Despite the fragmented timetables of both lines, the line names remain, along with simple linear route maps, confusing passengers who do not check or understand the train timetable.

This is NOT an official KTM Komuter route map or train service. Do NOT use for travel guidance.

My Proposed KTM Komuter Klang Valley 4-Line Changes

By splitting the KTM Komuter Klang Valley Sector into 4 distinct lines radiating out of KL, passengers can clearly see a split in train services. This split is already happening on the Tanjung Malim-Pelabuhan Klang Line, but despite the 2 distinct train services, it is shown as a single line on route maps with through travel on a route (KL Sentral–Sungai Buloh) that is not available at all times.

KL Sentral will be the main transit hub for 3 out of 4 lines, which makes interchanging simple and clearer, instead of having to check what time is the next connection or through train which may be in an hour’s time or more.

My proposed lines are as follows:

Batu Caves & City Line

KV Southern Line

KV Northern Line

KV Western Line

Why 4 Lines of KTM Komuter Klang Valley?

The Tanjung Malim-Pelabuhan Klang Line is already split into 2 services or more today. My 4-lines idea is to basically properly put these 2 services into 2 proper distinct lines so that everyone can see it as such, instead of ending up at the station to see a through service on the route map, and checking timetables may reveal that a through service or even a through connection may not exist.

For the Batu Caves-Pulau Sebang (Tampin) Line, splitting it into 2 distinct sectors will recover services on the unaffected KL Sentral–Batu Caves sector, which is currently limited due to the long single-track sector that trains travel on between KL Sentral and Senawang. That’s like every station on the KL Sentral–Sungai Gadut sector except the final 1-station sector from Senawang to Sungai Gadut, which is just ridiculous.

Furthermore, if further progress in the KVDT project requires further disruption, it is better to disrupt 1 shortened line as a shorter, split line, instead of disrupting 1 current line from almost head to tail.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

This also provides clarity for passengers to which section is actually being disrupted, especially when the disruption crosses multiple sections.

Batu Caves & City Line

By having dedicated trains on the KL Sentral–Batu Caves sector, my proposed Batu Caves & City Line will provide a good service in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur which then returns KTM Komuter back its rightful status as a rapid transit model like how it was designed for in 1995.

My proposed Batu Caves & City Line would only be 9 kilometers long with a travel time of 34 minutes on today’s schedule.

Do not look down on the short track length. The KL Sentral–Putra sector goes through the city centre of Kuala Lumpur with an important catchment for business and commercial areas along with rail interchanges at all stations on this short but important sector. A railway line through the city was achieved in KL in 1886, with electrified KTM Komuter trains since 1995, but London only got theirs in 2022 with the Crossrail Elizabeth Line. While everybody foams about Crossrail halfway around the world, no one bats an eyelid about the the KL Sentral–Putra sector. But perhaps also partly because everyone has found alternatives.

It’s time to make the “Crossrail” of KL great again.

With quick turnarounds, only 4 train sets will be needed for a 15-minute frequency. Trains can thus run at 15-minute frequency during peak periods and at 20-minute frequency during off-peak periods, working around the ETS timetable, which is quite a good service in my opinion for today’s standards.

(I’m not saying that drivers can’t rest. Remember that the train can move while the driver rests. The driver can walk out of the train for a break while a new one takes over.)

Forget about the fantasy 7.5 minute frequency target popular on news articles, let’s be realistic. I think 20 minutes is pretty good considering today’s current standards, and 15 minutes would be really great. This would even make Batu Caves & City Line more frequent than KLIA Transit during off-peak periods.

This is also extremely essential now since the KL Sentral–Batu Caves sector covers the disrupted Rapid KL LRT Ampang & Sri Petaling Lines at Bandaraya via Bank Negara Railway Station due to viaduct cracks, connects to the MRT Putrajaya Line at Kampung Batu, and connects to residential areas all the way up to Batu Caves. This gives LRT passengers a viable alternative to the LRT, resulting in more revenue for KTM.

For social media, this also provides more opportunities for foreign YouTubers bound for Batu Caves to record themselves crying because they are so impressed with the best, comfortable, efficient, and clean Malaysian local trains, with service and hospitality better than back home. 100k views + like + share.

Oh, and also for people to actually get to Batu Caves.

For trains on the below lines, if empty rakes are running to or from Sentul EMU Depot, they can form additional shortworking trips to Sentul as shortworking Batu Caves & City Line trains before starting or terminating passenger services.

KV Southern Line

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The KL Sentral–Sungai Gadut sector is the weakest link since almost the whole sector is on a single-track. This split will allow KV Southern Line trains to operate independently on the single-track sector without messing it up for the rest of the Klang Valley.

I added KV to the line name to properly make it distinctive for the Klang Valley, so as to not confuse it with other railway lines around Peninsular Malaysia, and for operation flexibility since naming the line with a station on the line will make it more confusing eg. Seremban Line train which travels from KL Sentral to Bangi only or Seremban Line train which actually goes to Pulau Sebang (Tampin).

If empty rakes are running to or from Sentul EMU Depot, they can form additional shortworking trips to Sentul as shortworking Batu Caves & City Line trains before starting or terminating passenger services.

KV Northern Line

The Tanjung Malim-Pelabuhan Klang Line is already split into 2 sectors. This simply provides clarity for the Tanjung Malim–Sungai Buloh sector, which is already touted as a “Shuttle Train”. Nothing new here except for the name and colour. Passengers can continue to use the MRT to travel into KL from Sungai Buloh.

For the portion to KL Sentral, I suggest cutting it out to prioritise Batu Caves & City Line and ETS trains.

Controversial, but hear me out.

Very few trains serve Kepong Sentral, Kepong, and Segambut already today. It’s already screwed up. Me cutting it out won’t change much things.

Instead, to serve Kepong Sentral, Kepong, and Segambut when track slots are available, I suggest using the freight wye at Simpang Batu for trains to go to Sentul instead of going down to KL Sentral.

This is because Sentul has an additional Platform 3 to cater to idling capacity for such terminating trains, and passengers can use the above-proposed frequent Batu Caves & City Line to continue down to KL Sentral. Considering that the current mid-day gap in service at Kepong Sentral, Kepong, and Segambut is almost 5 hours long, I don’t think people will be overly-angry at needing to wait at Sentul for maybe 20 minutes to change trains.

With this change, more trains can also hopefully serve Kepong Sentral, Kepong, and Segambut as trains run empty rakes to and from Sentul EMU Depot to Tanjung Malim or Sungai Buloh to start or end services, so these empty trains can simply stop and open their doors for passengers to actually use it, instead of empty trains simply zooming past stations which is perversely happening today.

This route is not new, and has been done before on the now-defunct KTM Komuter 2304up Sentul to Sungai Buloh once-a-day direct train.

I added KV to the line name to properly make it distinctive for the Klang Valley, so as to not confuse it with other railway lines around Peninsular Malaysia, and for operation flexibility since naming the line with a station on the line will make it more confusing.

KV Western Line

The Tanjung Malim-Pelabuhan Klang Line is already split into 2 sectors. This simply provides clarity for the KL Sentral–Pelabuhan Klang sector, which is where trains are already travelling on now. Nothing new here except for the name.

If empty rakes are running to or from Sentul EMU Depot, they can form additional shortworking trips to Sentul as shortworking Batu Caves & City Line trains before starting or terminating passenger services.

I added KV to the line name to properly make it distinctive for the Klang Valley, so as to not confuse it with other railway lines around Peninsular Malaysia, and for operation flexibility since naming the line with a station on the line will make it more confusing.

This is a temporary fix

Now obviously, I don’t mean that this 4-lines proposal is meant to last forever. I reiterate that this 4-lines proposal is to cater for the massive disruption that the KVDT project is causing for everybody. When it is finally completed in 2019 2030 as known today, the original Batu Caves-Pulau Sebang (Tampin) Line and Tanjung Malim-Pelabuhan Klang Line should be restored for a 7.5-minute frequency. Or so it has been touted.

I look forward to the day when I can apparently have KTM Komuter trains every 7.5 minutes to Seremban.

As for now, KTM, I’m providing constructive feedback and ideas that can actually work. I have so much to say because I actually use your train service, and I actually understand how it works (eg. I don’t viralkan on Facebook when my train goes boom at neutral sections).

Please run trains on good, empty track as mentioned above.

You’re a train company. Please run trains.

2 comments

  1. Just thinking some of the ETS trains could double as Komuter services and stop at the stations between Sungai Buloh and KL Sentral. Is there any technical limitation that prevents the ETS trains to serve these stations as well?

    Reply

    1. Aside from the transfer possibility at KL Sentral, there is no technical limitation. Other than deciding what fares should be charged.

      Reply

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