It has been a week plus since I started to use KTM Komuter to work again. After I came back from Japan (will blog about it soon), stuck in traffic jam made me agitated and annoyed. In Japan, we used trains (and some buses) for our transportation and they are super-efficient. At some point I become so obsess with trains in Japan and almost thought of starting collecting train model as a hobby. As soon as I started driving back to work on Monday, I felt that I wasted 2 hours every day just to be idled in the middle of road. So I decided to take Komuter to work again. I did it for 1 month when I moved back to KL in December, but decided to drive as I feel more flexible but now I changed my mind again.
It’s hard not to love trains in Japan. It just not about the train itself, it’s about the management of train, the people who use the train, the route and the technology itself. Tokyo has world’s most extensive urban rail network covering over 130 lines, over 2,000 km of operational rail, over 3,500 km of unique daily services and over 1000 stations*. There isn’t a place that you want to go that hasn’t a stop for that. Some places have even 2 or 3 stop to choose from.
The train experience started from the airport itself. From Narita International Airport, we took Narita Express to Shinjuku station. The train has 12 coaches and when we boarded the train, we discovered that the train will uncouple the coaches at Tokyo station and divided to 2 sections for 2 different directions. I was at coach no 8. After arriving at Tokyo station, coach no 1-6 will go to Yokohama and coach 7-12 will go to Shinjuku. And the best part, you don't even notice the process and it was done in less than 5 minutes.
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| Me in NEX. Very spacious and comfortable |
Before I arrived in Tokyo and was researching and preparing our travel itinerary, I was intimidated by the map of Tokyo subway. The map was not even complete, yet all I see was spiderweb. This is more complicated than New York and Seoul, definitely. But once you are there, it was not complicated at all. Just know your destination station, remember what line and there are maps, board and station master everywhere to help you.
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| The trusted subway map that we used until we discovered that it is not complete we were trying to go to Mt. Fuji. |
Then there are the people who use the train. When we arrived at Shinjuku, we were shocked. There are so many people and everyone is in the rush. Even the old ladies walked faster than me. Those who think these people are not fast enough, run. Yes, they are people running around everywhere. We were lost looking for our connecting line and I was constantly being knocked by the commuters. However, they are not rude. If they knocked you, they’ll apologize. So my husband asked me to move to the wall and we’ll scout the area from the side first. In fact, the train station has signs everywhere telling the commuters to not to rush. If KL Sentral to put that kind of sign, I suggest to put please rush and don't stop in the middle of the way (oh God, why Malaysians you like to stop anyway you like? Like in front of escalators or in the middle of the pathway).
I have nothing but full of praise for the commuters. They clearly followed the instructions and one of their rules is no talking using the hand phone in the train. You won’t find people talking loudly in the phone or to each other and the ambiance was quiet and calm. People either reading their books or play around with their hand phones (with no noise or using headphones). This one incident that happened in front of me where a guy received a phone call and with hush voice talked quickly and ended the conversation. Then came another call and apparently the call was important and needed to be taken. He actually squat down in front of the door while talking quietly so that it will not disturb anybody. While in shikansen (bullet train), they actually walked out of the coach to the space in between the coaches to talk on the phone. You see how they respect everyone. Meanwhile at home, this one time in Komuter, there’s this girl talking to her boyfriend on the phone all the way from Subang to KL Sentral with everyone listening to her. Haih.
Last but not least, the train itself. To tell the truth, if you look from outside, the trains look old and outdated. But as you step inside, you can see that it was properly maintained and was refurbished to new seats. There was one time I thought the train will be slow riding one as it looked old. It looked older than our Komuter. But then, in 15 minutes, we had gone through 8 stops.Another thing is the ticket machine that available in every station can also top up the prepaid card according to any amount that you want. And it also can return the extra money in the card. How cool is that?
And of course there’s shinkansen or bullet train. There have few ranges according to speed. For this trip we took the latest model Nozomi N700 series with a maximum operating speed of 300 km/h (185 mph) from Tokyo to Kyoto. The journey took 2 hours 18 minutes for 463km distance. For comparison purpose, Subang Jaya to Kuala Terengganu using Lebuhraya Pantai Timur is 450km. (Japan’s shinkansen is not the fastest in the world. The current record hold by Shanghai Maglev with its maximum operational speed of 430km/h and average speed of 251kmph). The most challenging moment when I was in the shinkasen was using the toilet. (yes, I need to try the toilet too.. hehe). Though it’s a long distance train, people are using it for their daily trips to work. The train have quick stop at each stations and commuters started to line up before we arrived at the station. In that way, when the train stops, commuters can go out and let people go in quickly.
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| Source: Shinkansen |
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| My view along the way from Tokyo to Kyoto |
The 9 days I was in Japan, I never encountered a late train. If there is a delay, they will inform it. There's one time there was an accident in Kyoto and they announced that the train will be delayed 6 minutes and it's true the train delayed 6 minutes, no less no more. Because of that, we can plan our journey easily as we can depend on the train's accurancy.
However, it is not fair for me to compare it with Komuter only. We have better trains than Komuter like ERL, Putra LRT. But since Komuter is the nearest to my house and I'm taking it daily, I just have to compare it. Macam langit dengan bumi.
I wish once this MRT project finish, we will have better public transport network and I don't have to take Komuter anymore. Hehe
