IPOH, Feb 8 — The Transport Ministry said today it is looking into possibilities of providing express train service between states not only during festive seasons but also on other days.

Its minister Anthony Loke said he would discuss this matter with the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) on their operational constraints and was looking forward to launching the service as soon as possible.

"Express train is not something new. Electric Train Service (ETS) have it before and it will only take about two hours from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur journey.

"However, we have constraints in Klang Valley because of the double track is being upgraded. We are going to complete Phase 1 by the end of the first quarter of this year.

"So the moment Phase 1 is completed, then we can look into on how to improve our efficiency and frequency,” he told a press conference after launching the KTMB’s open payment system at the Ipoh Railway Station here.

Loke said the ministry will discuss with KTMB to provide at least one or two express train services per day.

"This will be very helpful for people who are staying in Ipoh and travelling to Kuala Lumpur for work purposes. They prefer daily trips instead of putting up there.

"I myself do a lot of daily trips. I travel around the country and I don’t stay at any place. So many people did not want to spend overnight, no matter in KL or Penang, as they want to save cost and be with their family,” he explained.

Loke also said that day-trip travelling is possible with express train services as the distances between states in Peninsular Malaysia are not far.

"So if our public transport service system can support this effort, then it will surely help a lot of people and encourage more people to use public transportation,” he said.

Earlier, Loke in his speech announced that KTMB has introduced four additional ETS services daily from February 7 to 13 from KL Sentral to Ipoh, including two express trains, especially for Chinese New Year.

"This is a new initiative by KTMB that operates directly with a travel time of only two hours compared to the normal travel time of two hours and 40 minutes,” said Loke, adding that all the tickets were already sold out.