KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — In conjunction with the upcoming Chinese New Year (CNY) celebration, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) will provide four additional Electric Train Services (ETS) trains.

Transport minister Datuk Anthony Loke Siew Fook said with the CNY holidays just around the corner most citizens would be leaving to their hometowns starting today.

His said the authorities just wants to make sure a smooth a smooth journey for anyone travelling to ensure there is enough transportation services available.

"The transport ministry takes the holiday travel period very seriously and are determined to ensure all sectors have extra services,” said Loke after giving out goodie bags to those using the ETS service at KL Sentral today.

"Normally there are 36 trips, to and fro, from Gemas to Padang Besar. For this festive season we are adding four extra trips.

"The additions won't be throughout the holiday period but only between February 1-4 and February 7-10 as it's a few days before the 'reunion dinner' (one day before CNY) and a few days after,” he said.

Tickets for the RTS service from KL Sentral-Ipoh and KL Sentral-Butterworth lines are already sold out for Sunday (February 3).

An additional 9984 tickets were offered and so far 7158 tickets have been sold.

For the KTM Intercity line, 16,000 tickets are on offer from January 31 till February 10 and so far 11,303 tickets have been sold. As for the Shuttle Tebrau, 109,120 were offered with 71,869 sold.

"All these numbers show that ETS is one of the popular modes of transport as demand is high,” Loke said.

"It's not just for trains but involves buses and plane tickets as well.

"As you all know we are in the midst of upgrading our train tracks and we will increase the number of lines north-bound. Were expecting these tracks to be ready by 2021.”

As an added treat KTM are offering a special menu of "Deep Fried Chicken Thigh with Sour Plum Sauce” and "Chee Cheong Fung Taufu with Fish Mousse”.