Railway enthusiasts are a nostalgic bunch, and now that Keretapi Tanah Melayu‘s (KTM) Electric Train Service (ETS) goes all the way down to Johor Bahru, come January 1, we will bid farewell to the diesel-hauled Ekspres Selatan (Southern Express), which has ferried passengers between Gemas and Johor Bahru for nine years. Yup, another passenger train pulled by a locomotive bites the dust.
The service used to be called Shuttle Selatan (Southern Shuttle), going between Gemas and Singapore’s Woodlands. Subsequently, Shuttle Tebrau became the only KTM train to Woodlands (and even its days are numbered – as ETS put Ekspres Selatan to bed, RTS Link will retire Shuttle Tebrau), and the long-distance southern service was truncated to JB.
Once the six daily Ekspres Selatan services cease, there’ll only be one regular diesel-hauled express left in Malaysia – the Ekspres Rakyat Timuran, which will continue working the limited-stop service between JB and Tumpat via Gemas. The stopping trains here are of course the new-ish diesel multiple units (DMU), which are confined to the East Coast Line – these work between Gemas and Tumpat under the Shuttle Timuran (Eastern Shuttle) banner.
“Every journey, memory and nostalgia with the Ekspres Selatan will always be engraved in the memory of all KTM employees. KTM would like to express its highest appreciation to all passengers and loyal users of the Ekspres Selatan for their continued support throughout,” said KTM chief technical officer and acting group CEO Ir Ahmad Nizam Mohamed Amin.
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