KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 – Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) today signed an agreement with London-based leisure and luxury train service company Eastern & Oriental Express Limited (E&O) to strengthen the rail industry and revive tourism in the country.
In a statement, KTMB said this agreement includes improvements to the existing agreement from a commercial aspect for E&O to use the rail route in Malaysia starting from Woodlands, Singapore to Padang Besar in Perlis before continuing to Bangkok,Thailand.
“Both companies have reached an agreement to improve on the previous transport agreement to promote the connection of the land and rail sector as well as turn Malaysia into one of the preferred destinations by offering the luxury train service.
“In 2019, a total of 2,500 passengers were recorded with the offer of 39 services that brought tourists from the United Kingdom, United States and around Asia. The service stop locations included Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Kangsar and Butterworth,” said the statement.
KTMB, which had established cooperation with E&O since 1991, said it expects the train service along the route from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to resume operations in the fourth quarter of this year after it was temporarily stopped in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
