New JB to KL Train: Malaysia’s Johor Bahru–Kuala Lumpur Rail Link Update

For years, travelling between Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur has been more effort than it needed to be. You could do it by bus, by car, or by stitching together parts of the rail network. All of those options worked, but none of them were particularly good. Journey times were long, traffic was unpredictable, and travelling by train usually meant dealing with transfers and awkward scheduling.

Yesterday, 12th December 2025, that all changed. Malaysia launched its first direct Electric Train Service between JB Sentral and KL Sentral. For the first time, the entire west coast route is fully electrified and runs as a single, uninterrupted journey.

In this article, we’ll break down how people used to travel between JB and KL, how commuting on this route has changed, and what the new electric train actually offers in terms of time, cost, and comfort. To understand why this matters, it helps to start with what the route looked like before.

How People Travelled Between JB and KL Before the New Train

Trying to be a little more creative to ensure my readers aren't just reading boring text, I let the Picasso come out of me and I designed this lovely graph for visualisation.

Before the direct electric train launched, travelling between Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur usually meant choosing between convenience and certainty. Buses and cars were cheaper, but journey times depended heavily on traffic. Trains were more predictable once onboard, but the route south required a change at Gemas, adding time and complexity to what should have been a simple intercity journey.

The table above shows the three realistic options most people used, along with their typical travel times, costs, and trade-offs. None of them were unusable, but none of them offered a fast, direct, and reliable way to move between JB and KL. That gap is exactly what the new electric train is designed to fill.

The New Electric Train Between JB and KL

The new Electric Train Service launched yesterday, 12 December 2025, runs directly between JB Sentral and KL Sentral, removing the need for transfers or planning around connection times. You board once and stay on the same train for the entire journey.

The trip takes around four and a half hours, which puts it comfortably ahead of the old rail route via Gemas and removes one of the biggest frustrations people had with travelling by train on this corridor. It is also far more predictable than travelling by road, where traffic could easily turn a five-hour journey into something much longer.

In terms of cost, tickets are priced higher than most bus options, with standard one-way fares generally sitting between RM88 and RM99 depending on the service and seat class. That makes it more expensive than the cheapest buses, but still well below the cost of flying, and much easier to justify when you factor in time saved and reliability. Early services also saw strong demand, with many tickets selling out quickly ahead of the launch.

The train itself is what you would expect from a modern long-distance electric service. Seating is comfortable, the ride is noticeably smoother and quieter than the older diesel trains, and the overall layout feels designed for longer journeys rather than short commuter hops. There are power points at seats, onboard facilities such as toilets and a café area, and enough space that the journey does not feel cramped.

Yesterday, it's the first day in service, hundreds of passengers boarded the inaugural trains, many treating it as a long-overdue milestone rather than a novelty. Coverage from the stations described a mix of excitement and relief, particularly from travellers who regularly move between southern Johor and the Klang Valley. The general reaction was not that this was flashy or revolutionary, but that it finally feels like the route works the way it should have for years.

That is ultimately what makes this train important. It does not replace buses or cars, but it fills a clear gap. For the first time, there is a direct, reliable rail option between JB and KL that does not require compromise.