ERL Unveils KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit New Train Livery Design
Kuala Lumpur, 12th February 2015 – Express Rail Link Sdn. Bhd. (ERL) unveiled the KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit new train livery design featuring the cheetah, the world’s fastest animal on land, which also embodies the train’s speed and reliability. The cheetah icon was selected to replace the flora and fauna batik motifs that the trains had been sporting since it began operations in 2012. The new train livery design also signifies ERL’s commitment to evolve and incorporate innovative business solutions in its day-to-day operations.
The unveiling of the new train livery design was officiated by the Chairman of Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD), YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar.
Noormah in her speech said, “With the opening of KLIA2 last May, the total daily ridership for both KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit in 2014 grew by 43% compared to the year before. We have also consistently maintained an impeccable world class on-time availability of 99.7% since 2002.
KLIA Ekspres passengers are equally made up of locals and overseas visitors, with 50% of them travelling on business purpose. We have to constantly keep up with the customer demand and meet or even exceed their expectations. Customers are now more vocal to voice their displeasure through social media, but they are also equally generous with compliments if they like what they have experienced.”
The various initiatives that ERL took to improve its service quality in recent years include the refurbishment of all train seats and carpets, installation of WiFi onboard, online ticketing, introduction of KLIA Ekspres mobile app, Visa payWave acceptance at the gates, train service updates via Twitter and Facebook, a new tourist product called KL TravelPass that runs on Touch ‘n Go platform and introduction of MyTeksi booking app with dedicated pick-up bays at the Arrival Hall in KL Sentral.
“ERL is also ready to welcome its 60 millionth passenger onboard in a few days’ time. This is an amazing achievement as we just celebrated our 50 millionth passenger in March, less than a year ago. The challenges were certainly aplenty with such a speedy growth,” she added.
Meanwhile in his speech, YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Syed Hamid said, “KL Sentral Station is the main transit hub in Kuala Lumpur – the focal point for a seamless journey that covers major areas in the city. The easy connectivity at KL Sentral encourages visitors and local commuters to use public transportation.”
For visitors arriving into the country, their journey to the city begins right from the airport, by taking the KLIA Ekspres from KLIA/KLIA2 to KL Sentral. From there, they can choose various public transport modes such as LRT Kelana Jaya line, the monorail, KTM Komuter and taxis to connect them to their ultimate destination.
YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Syed Hamid also urged transport providers to use innovation to improve their services to accommodate the demand of the travellers. Some of the proposed initiatives include:
- adding additional train capacity or travel frequencies;
- improving safety standards and service reliability;
- providing better or upgraded facilities at the stations;
- ensuring sufficient taxis even during the peak hours; and
- coming up with attractive and convenient travel products.
“In the future, Kuala Lumpur will be even better connected when the High Speed Rail project linking KL and Singapore is completed, and not forgetting the completion of the MRT project and the LRT extension line. When all these projects are completed, I foresee a future where everyone will prefer to take public transport as their main mode of transportation instead of driving individually,” he added.
On the new livery design, the main objective is to create a world-class design on the train that reflects ERL vision, embodies ERL identity and communicates ERL goals. The visual selection of cheetah depicts the fastest animal in the world which enhances the ERL story on speed. Focusing on speed, this will be the main differentiator that puts KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit ahead of all competition. The tag-line “Underneath it all, we’re still the fastest” tells a story of a strong legacy of ERL which tells the story of its long history evolution, improvements and milestones.
