SEREMBAN, 20 January -The Ministry of Transport aims to use 80 percent of the railway tracks in Peninsular Malaysia by 2030.

According to Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke Siew Fook, this is due to high demand from passengers that cannot be accommodated due to a lack of train sets and locomotives.

So far, the use of existing railways can only be optimised up to 30 percent.

"So, our target is to upgrade. However, we need more 'rolling stops'.

"We need additional train sets, we need more locomotives for cargo.

"It's not people who don't use it, people do reallt want to use it. We don't have enough trains, and our 'rolling stops' are not enough.

"Take for example, the ETS. Our ETS is in high demand, but there are only 10 sets for the first generation ETS class 93, while ETS 2 only has nine sets.

"So, in total, there are 19 sets for ETS. So, every weekend, the ETS is full", he told reporters after the ETS Class 93 Train Handover Ceremony for the Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul Project to the Ministry of Transport here.

He explained that the government has also developed a phased plan to increase passenger train services throughout Malaysia from 2024 to 2030 by targeting the operation of 299 passenger trains nationwide.

Meanwhile, Anthony Loke also announced that a total of 210,000 train tickets have been sold in conjunction with the 2025 Chinese New Year (CNY) celebrations.

He added that Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) also provides an additional initiative involving an additional locomotive train for the Kuala Lumpur-Butterworth route, two trips per day.

"So far during the CNY season, KTMB's capacity is 270,000 tickets or 270,000 seats.

"As of now, 210,000 have been sold. The reason why there are more leftovers is because there may not be as many people on the return trip.

"We count the trips as a whole but most trips going back home are already full.

"For example, the trip from KL to Ipoh and then to Butterworth is mostly full", he said.