MY wife and daughters left Kuala Krai for Kuala Lumpur by train on May 15 at 8.30pm (though the departure time stated on the tickets was 7.53pm). The train reached KL at 10.30 the next morning. It was, of course, late.

The return journey on May 17 was equally distressing. My family left KL Sentral station at 8.30pm and arrived in Kuala Krai at 11.30 the next morning, thanks to the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd snail coach.

Such delays have been the norm for a long time. I wonder why KTMB bothers to proclaim departure and arrival times to the exact minute when it is unable to deliver the service it promises.

I wonder why they bother to spruce up the railway station here and continue to talk about double-tracking.

I think the Transport Minister and the chief of KTMB should take the train from Tumpat to KL and find out just how unbearable the journeys is.

JEREMIAH TAN, Kuala Krai

Source: NST – May 23, 2008