Let’s try to help KTMB to make our ride On The Train to be a bit better, June 24, 2010

I was not even out of my office building yet when somebody mentioned to me about the bad news regarding the Komuter service. The person is a regular commuter like me and according to her, her friend said that one of the electrical wires broke into two somewhere between Segambut and KL station rendered one line ceased to be operable. She was walking to the station to confirm the news and for her to take alternative to go home. She was complaining that she has a monthly ticket and if KTMB continued to behave this way she going to be at the losing end. So I was not surprise when I saw the crowds moving and coming from the same direction. As I was thinking of what to do an announcement came on air about the mishap and delays. The announcer also mentioned that who ever wish to continue with the journey their ticket will be refunded and with that I straight away decided to take the STAR LRT to Petaling. I queued up at the counter and got my RM4 refund. This morning the line between KL and Segambut was still not ready and a lot of people were late for work.

Let’s try to dissect the problem and maybe, just maybe, we could offer KTMB a solution. First of all from the six years experience that I have taken the Komuter Train service all their problems that I had faced were not new problems. Meaning that they have had experience on almost everything happening within this year before. From learning perspective they should have learned from all these experiences and be better equip to anticipate and deal with the problems but this did not happen. Why?

They do not now how to learn?
The have issue with knowledge flow so much so the lessons learned were not shared?
Not enough opportunity to share because of structure, culture or process?

Truly, most adults take for granted that since they are adults they know how to learn. In actual fact they do not have a clue. KTMB need to find out if this is so within it’s organization. How to learn properly is important in terms of comprehension and retention. The capacity to learn is also as important as ability to learn. Most need to understand both of these first in order to know what proper learning is. If you are a baby boomer highly likely you would not have a clue about this unless you read and learn about it. Taking into consideration the population of the staff of KTMB especially the technical section that mostly deals with the current situation they are facing. Learning style, retention and the way learning is design and deliver are very important for them. I am beginning to wonder what sort of learning and training intervention they provide at their Batu Gajah Training Centre?

Or maybe with all the learnings they had from dealing with the day to day problems and issues just stuck with few people in the organization and the learnings were not being shared enough. This could happen due to several reasons for them. The technical knowledge were not captured properly and thus not many know the knowledge exist within the organization. Maybe it is due to the knowledge are not flowing far and deep enough in the organization. There is a bottle neck or stopper somewhere along the line of their knowledge flow value chain. The barrier could be a person, social network or process and the three may have a connection to the culture of the organization.

If all these are not the problem then it is just a case of not enough opportunities exist or being created for them to share ‘war stories’ easily in the organization.

On The Train, Sept 7, 2009

The train service during the Ramadhan was heretic to say the least. So far I was delayed three times already and all of them due to cancellation. When KTMB uses Cancellation it means the train brokedown somewhere and being pulled out of the service. Just this morning when I was at the Bangi station there was already a Seremban train on the track being repaired. There were two engineers/drivers trying to restart the engine that refused to do so. Maybe it was over used and in need for a rest he he he. Whatever it is this is going to be the norm for at least the next three years for me. These days going to work in the early morning I’ll join the rest catching up on lost ZZZZZZZZZ. Going home is like playing Russian roulette with KTMB and if I am lucky on the day the train would be surely sardine can pack at KL Sentral. I was joking one day with another commuter while commenting the late arrival of our train said, ‘Surely it’s going to be a hot packed sardine can after this.’ He remarked, ‘No, I do not think so it’s more like a blended fish or meat,’ We laughed about it. Well, you need your sense of humour to keep your sanity in balance if you were a regular KTMB commuters.

On The Train, July 13, 2009

The 1820 train was late by 10 minutes and when it arrived the second coach was an oven. I walked out straight away and walked up to the first which slightly cooler but still, with not many people on the train, hot. Just imagine it would be at full capacity which it was likely going to be soon. The driver walked down the line to inspect and I told him it was definitely very hot in the second coach. He took about few minutes to inspect to come to a decision whether go or no go for that train. Having been on the train for close to 7 years now I just knew what it meant. When he passed by I asked ‘jalan?’ he said no so I disembarked to wait for another one. Those on the train did not know it as the train cannot stop there it had to be the KL Station and the driver upon reaching KL Station would ask everyone to get down to wait for the next train.

I did not have to wait long for the next train and it was almost empty and cool as a fridge. As I predicted the people on the last train were on the platform at KL Station waiting to board. When they did the train was a packed sardine can. We were fortunate that the aircon was put on full blast. Though I was oblivious of the surrounding the frustration and anger dominated the air inside the train. The story of our last Langkawi trip was really hard to materialize in my brain. Alas I was typing away like crazy

On The Train, May 5, 2009

I heard the breaking announcement and tried to decipher the meaning but I thought I heard she said the next train is going to Seremban and will be stopping at KL Station, KL Sentral and I thought I heard she mentioned all the stations on Seremban line. That was odd I thought but imagine my surprise when a normal engine train stopped in front f me pulling three normal carriages. I immediately thought this was what the announcement all about Somebody’ who was waiting ahead of me asked the driver and from the way he answered this was our Seremban train. Straight away my thought went to yesterday’s incident and concluded this is KTMB poor replacement of that train. Well at least they are making an effort.

So I stepped onto a hot metal container KTMB called a carriage. I tried to walk down to another carriage but was told it was hot as well so I did not bother and sat myself down to type this piece. When we about to reach KL Sentral an attendant came by to ask where I was going and when I said Bangi he advised me that the last carriage has it’s air conditioner working. I thanked him but did bother to move. I had been in worse so another one won’t matter.

On The Train, May 4, 2009

The 1820 train going home came on time. It was the old train that the seating I like. So with the seat I gotten at KL Station I went into my usual mode. Everything was fine until we were at Kajang station when the train suddenly died and I knew what’s going to happen next. However the driver tried to delay the obvious and after couple of minutes came the dreaded announcement. ‘Kami memohn maafa kearna keretapi ini telah mengalami kerosakan dan tidak akan meneruskan perjalan ke Seremban. Penumpang-penumpang diminta ke platform 3 menaiki keretapi yang akan tiba sebenar lagi.’ What else is new?

On The Train, Mar 13, 2009

Again with people cramped in worse then a can of ikan sardine and with a lot more on the platform I could not really understand of how inconsiderate KTMB is. Of course it got worse and worse as we reached the next station. How could they fail to learn as this happen almost every Friday evening. Of course today is worse because of their ‘technical’ problem. But they knew this already as it had been a two-week long ‘technical problem’ for us.

On The Train, Mar 12, 2009

The last few days due to power failures and rain the Komuter service has been bad. The worse part for me whenever I was early my strategy to get a seat did not materialized. Today as the sky became dark with the sound of exploding sky from a far I was expecting the same thing. Thanks to Allah it was not raining and I boarded the usual train at 2040. However when we got to KL Sentral there were a lot of commuters not like it was used to be. With that I knew the train was late – the train I was on was the train that supposed to arrive earlier.

On The Train, Feb 4, 2009

Not like yesterday I timed my leaving the office to be just nice to board the train home at 1846. The capacity of the train was also just nice – not too crowded.

My observation, I am not sure whether I am too early with my conclusion, is that the waiting line system introduced by KTMB is working. Now, in major stations, the announcer would come on air to announce the arrival of any particular train. Also, the announcer would mention which line to stand and wait. Just now we were asked to stand on red line. Looking at the lines I could guess the type of the train arriving and it stopped precisely at the red line. I hope this would prevail as long as it needs to be. Something that still a long way to go is the behavior or culture of Malaysians. Even with a clear line waiting some of us still cut queue to rush in.

On The Train, Jan 28, 2009

After a month at home and not taking the Komuter today I found out that KTMB had come out with a new innovation. Not a great innovation but at least an innovation to improve the service. I guess only now they realized that they have built new platforms that are too long for the Komuter trains. They have segregated the embarking and disembarking area into two. For south bound the first half of the platform is for the Pelabuhan Klang commuters and the other half until the end for Seremban bound commuters. The same on the opposite north bound platform where the first half for the Rawang bound commuters and the other end for Sentul bound.

The benefits, to the users of course, we do not have to cramp in one section of the platform to wait, embark and disembark. Of course we should not be confused as to what train is arriving to board now as we are already at the designated place. I suspect as well this segregation was implemented to ensure their just implemented arrow/directional for embarking and disembarking would work. At least it was working just now. Well, only if Malaysians would behave that way. At least this is an effort from KTMB to change how Malaysians behave. But I read somewhere change management is ridiculously missing the point and should not be done at all. If that is the case then we should build carriages that have seats in the middle and the doors roll up or down the length for the carriage. This way Malaysians do not have to queue up to embark and they can happily jump and rush in or out at any place the length of the entire train. If that still not going to work in Malaysia nothing will he he he. I also suspect KTMB implemented the segregation system to avoid backlash from the media and the public at large for not so smart in planning and spending.

I was not worried about my broken clavicle when I boarded to work this morning as I was pretty sure to get a seat but going home was something else. So when I boarded to go home I picked my place properly and was gifted a seat at KL station.

On The Train, Oct. 10, 2008

Two things close to my heart were reported in the Malay Mail today. One is, yet again, on KTMB and second on the match fixing international football. Both really were not news to me or most of us but extend and severity of them that made me sad.

Since I am on the train almost everyday the first news was something that I am living with everyday. The service was really a disservice most of the time. I thought after the nice experience during the first few weeks of Ramadan things were improving but I was brought back to the ground by the incidences since then. I honestly believe now KTMB do not have the capacity to improve at all. They could put the blame on anybody or everybody but the fact is their service is stink. I deduce that there are only two types of commuters on the train with me everyday. The first are those who do not have any choice and second those who really love the train no matter what. Probably now I am in between.

On The Train (KTMB has brain now), Sept. 26, 2008

I am glad now at least KTMB is ‘considerate’ to the need of it’s customers I hope it will improve further not juts because of this fasting month. Just like before anticipating many commuters ‘balik kampung’ they added short run trains from Sentul to Seremban just like today. I timed myself as usual but I missed my train by two minutes today and I was puzzled at first but I remembered that I had to help somebody in the office and was held back for few minutes. At the station was Mazri waiting for his wife and he told me that I had just missed the train.

It would be the last weekend before the Eid celebration and most people are going home already which means I am expecting a very empty train next Monday

On The Train (KTMB is getting smarter?), Sept. 19, 2008

I was hoping to get home a bit earlier but as soon as I was at the platform came out the announcement through the PA system telling us once again KTMB was very sorry that due to the cancellation of one Rawang train the train to Seremban would be delayed by 40 minutes. Luckily I remembered that I was fasting. With that I found a seat and booted up my laptop. Reading was not an option as I was not a mood.

While I was typing suddenly it was announced that the Seremban train will be arriving form Putra station in 3 minutes. I was caught of guard as it could not be that fast from Kuang. When the train arrived it was empty and I knew straight away that KTMB was being customer sensitive and proactive. I knew they have taken one Klang train out from Sentul and sent it down the Seremban line. Good for KTMB they are using their heads now.

Even with the empty train it was almost ripped at the seam when we were at KL Sentral. Fasting or not people were yelling and inconsiderate. Just imagine if it was not an empty train. Riot!

My assumption became a sure thing when we reached Bangi station the dirver announced that the train will terminate at Bangi and returning back to Rawang. Lucky for me they chose Bangi as the point which was actually logical.

On The Train, Sept. 11, 2008

I just hate it when some people are so kiasu. On the train today due to the usual KTMB disservice the train was packed and late. As usual when I boarded I placed myself strategically and managed to get a seat at KL Sentral. But before that there was this one lady that was so kiasu that rushed our from behind my back to grab a seat in front of my. Man! there were several seats there does she have to push everyone away for that seat.

The train waited at every station along the way and making me very late for home. We left Kajang at 1931 way past time for Iftar already. But it is no use getting heartache because of KTMB anymore it was not worth it and furthermore I was fasting. IN the end we got the Bangi the driver announced that the train was not going any further and turning back the rest if the commuters going ahead had to disembark and wait for another train behind us. At least I was at home base already and if it was at Kajang then fasting or no I would be cursing KTMB all the same.

On The Train (Leadership 2.0), Aug 21, 2008

Recently in our strategic conversation we talked about the difficulty in dealing with cultural issues and one of the things that we proposed to do was to get a greater leadership buy in and to get them involve more. Perhaps the Leadership 2.0 written by Edgar Tan of Straits Knowledge is another perspective that we can look at.

I was to post this when I read that the PM took a surprise visit to check both the Komuter and LRT services. Well his statement was what all of us knew already. You wanaa bet whether the service will improve? And for how long?

On The Train (Alahai KTMB), July 13, 2008

I had to send my wife to Seremban as usual for her class and since I was a not better I decided to take the train to Rawang just to pass the time. Well it was not a working day as I wish but that would not stop me from wanting to do it. So as soon as I parked the car at Terminal One we walked down towards Seremban Station.

The Majlis Perbandaran Seremban had just completed the walkway which include the underpass form terminal one across the street and as it was new it was still very clean. I just dreaded it if I were to be using the same walkway in a few months.time as I would probably see a messed walkway. I hope for once I would be proven wrong. Immediately when we came out of the underpass we crossed a small river, I can’t remember the name of that river, but now more like a monsoon drain. I knew it was a drain because as soon as we came out the strong unpleasant smell just bombarded our nostril. It was worse for my sick nose. The sight was as unpleasant as the smell making the new walkway a sore thumb among all these. I could not help but remember when I used to walk there with Lat on our way to her house at Chemara Research Station. As we progressed I knew they had to build the walkway with security highly in the agenda and true enough at strategic place was a police beat and further along a sign stating the walkway being monitored by CCTV. I do hope both would not end up as monument and merely signboard. The place has it’s black history it would make a bigger public outcry if the same thing happen in the future.

I paid around RM28 for three adults and a child to Rawang and boarded the train which was already on the platform (1050). My original plan was to read all the way to Rawang as I always do not have enough time to read during my daily commute but unfortunately I forgot to bring my book. I did the obvious, typing this.

It was the new refurbished train and as I said before not ‘seat friendly’ for most Malaysian and long distance travel. The weather was quite gloomy when we pulled out of Seremban and stayed that way until we were somewhere at Kajang.

At 1117 we arrived at Nilai station and the commuters really picked up then. Kak Cik and Mar long had decided to sleep through most of the journey but again the seat was not that sleep friendly either. I was so engrossed typing and missed most of Bangi until we stopped at the station at 1130.

The train was really solid packed with weekend trippers at Kajang and Kak Cik started to snore next to me and I nudged my elbow to wake her up. We need to get her to see the specialist. Mai, on my left, started to get bored and was her normal self pulling and having her hands all over me. Ain looked really bored as if to say I wasted my weekend for this. As it was Sunday most of them I presumed right were either getting off at Mid Valley or KL Sentral. We were at KL Sentral at 1220 when a thought did cross my mind to break the journey there. Seeing Mar was not that restless anymore we continued.

Up until then if I am not mistaken we had taken the train twice to Rawang and certainly not that familiar to us. Still it was not new. The only different probably the new Kepong Sentral station. The train started to get really empty at Sungai Buloh with that Mar started to be lively. She ran and jumped around the train just like on normal ground. I let her be with her antic as long as she was not a nuisance to others. I did not realize it that after Sg Buloh there is only Kuang station before we get to Rawang..

We arrived at Rawang station at 1255.

We have been to Rawang a number of times already at least twice by train. It was the same Rawang and walking around I saw the same things in any small town now. Street side hawkers, public transport users and people on the street were mostly foreigners. The locals were on cars and in shopping malls. It a bit hot and since I just got back form a serious downtime I made a beeline towards Parksons. Relieve to be there we window shop, I thought, and Mar and Kak CIk were successful to coax in into paying for an item each.

We took the 1420 train back and our new destination was Bank Negara or Bang Negara according to the driver. I realized that we did not have enough time only enough to have lunch. We decided on Manhattan Fish Market purely because there were less people there. I honestly think now there is something fishy, no pun intended, in Sogo. Continuous Cheap Sales and throngs of people within the complex. Today as if all the KL residents went berserk there. Of course we had fish which was not the palate for the rest. After we said our prayers we headed straight for the train and boarded the 1645 train to Seremban. I knew it would be packed but for season commuter I had a perfect strategy that straight away materializes at KL Station. This perfect strategy was render irrelevant later.

Just after leaving Bandar Tasek Selatan the train stuttered for several time. With 5 years of train time under my belt I knew straight away that was a sign of trouble and we were going all the way to Seremban. My assessment of the situation was either there was a disruption in the power supply, which could be disastrous for everyone, or the train power system was malfunction. The driver tried to start and restart the train and managed to take it to Serdang station. The same thing happened when we were to pull out of Serdang and the driver pushed the train towards Kajang. On reaching Kajang the worst happened. One of it’s wheel section went up in smoke and we were made to wait inside the train. The driver with the help of the station master tried to solve the problem but the obviously couldn’t and I knew we had to get down and board another train. At that point in time we were late already. I could not stop cursing KTMB inside. For what it worth do not ever bet your life on KTMB services. Again the worst part we were kept in the dark the whole time until they us to disembark to board another train. Of course by that time the service on the Seremban line was in a total mess. We could not make it to the first two trains that came as both were solid packed.

We reached Seremban at about 1915 which was an hour off our schedule. So my objective to have a nice pleasant ride on the train did not materialize. Instead of getting relaxed I was pissed and with that we left for Melaka to send Ain.

On The Train, July 2, 2008

I am on a second refurbished Komuter train going home. I am sure at least the second one because the first one that was on the Klang route came before this train. I did not comment on it when I was onboard the first one then but the seats are just too high for us Asians. Also it is not conducive if you had your laptop, on your lap, typing. Kids seating on it would definitely have their legs dangling. So despite what they have gone through they failed to get this one right yet again. When we were at Bandar Tasek Selatan the third refurbished train stopped next to us. It seems KTMB succumbed to political pressure to perform. Well after much publicity. As always reactive.

On The Train, April 15, 2008

My body is not what it used to be so I have to be mindful. I just got sick too easily nowadays and to make it worse over the weekend I had to travel in that condition. I am not complaining though but just merely stating the fact. At least works although piling are getting better.

The discussion on the role of Knowledge Angels continues and rightly so there is the need for certain clarity. It is actually the role of Information Service professional with extra depth in coverage and responsibility. Primary day to day function would be to be stationed at the helpdesk and proactively engage the stakeholders to;

1. Create awareness of the resources and services available in the KMC
2. Answer all queries and if necessary doing an information research
3. Make sense of the stakeholder profiles and behaviour to provide a proactive and customized services
4. Aware of the current needs of the stakeholders
5. Knowledgeable in the resources and subject area of Central Banking and Islamic Finance, Islamic Economics.
6. Knowledgeable in the Internet tools and search methodology

The train was a bit packed today and my guess it was due to the heavy rain. As I got to the platform came an announcement to say that the Seremban train had just left Sungai Buloh station. This means I had just missed my train. There were still a lot of people when we arrived at Kajang station. It has been for quite sometimes already and today it was a bit obvious that the demographic of the commuters has changed a bit. Now the composition is a bit balance between races, age and even gender. Most of them are also long distance commuters, well at least as far as Nilai, that varies from students to office workers. Still the amazing fact is that KTMB chose to ignore this and sadly their service is getting worse.

On The Train, Mar 10, 2008

I guess a lot of people are writing or commenting on the recently concluded general election. All I can say the result really surprised if not stunted a lot of Malaysian. Which ever way you kook at it from your perspective it was a good and a bad thing. But I rather take the route of looking at it from a positive point of view. With the opposition stronger I hope they will send a right and overdue message to KTMB J)). I was really not amuse by the, KTMB called it a service, disservice to all it’s stakeholders. Delays after delays compounded by cancellation of their train disservice. I just suffered in silence for the past few weeks. I was already in a stressful situation I certainly do not need for KTMB to make it worse. In fact the past few weeks also I never failed to see and read complaints about KTMB Komuter service, opps disservice. I do not know for how long more that KTMB would want to be ‘sombong’ and not accorded their stakeholder a decent service. If there are not careful they could be Selangor, Perak or Penang after 2008 election.

On The Train, Feb 15, 2008

I have been reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt since Monday on the train and whenever I started on it I could not put it down. Because of that I was not able to write anything going home since then. Today I just force myself to do this as I did not want to miss anything interesting to write. The one thing that I must write is this constant announcement since Monday when I was waiting to go home. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen we are sorry to inform you that there is a disruption in our service schedule due to some (you guess right) technical problem. Our train service from Rawang to Seremban will be delayed by 2 hours’ and the time decreased everyday but still too late for my comfort. Although by now I am beginning to accept the fact, still I curse KTMB once in a while.

It was at Serdang when the train stopped I saw liquid moved beside me and when I looked at it I realized there was water at the base of the glass window trapped in between. Soon after that I kept looking at it and as we move the water tilted to indicate our alignment with the ground. It acted as a nice water ruler for me. I was surprised I did not realize it earlier. I guess because I was conscious of a young girl seating restlessly beside me till then.

On The Train, Feb. 6, 2008

KTMB failed us yet again and this time I considered big-time. I came down to the platform around 1900 and I had to wait until almost 2020 for the train. The reason ‘technical problem’, yes that magic words again, at Kuang station. Being the eve of Chinese New Year the domino effect, chain reaction or whatever you want to call it was no-brainer. It was beyond sardine can when I boarded at Bank Negara station and you could imagine the crowds at KL and KL Sentral stations respectively. Chaotic to say the least and I witnessed the most inconsiderate Malaysians today. But the most inconsiderate most of all are the people seating on the management seats of KTMB. What I failed to understand is how they time and time again failed in their service. Although they made the necessary announcement not to warn or alert the commuters they have not learned fast enough. As I said before they have big problem in managing knowledge. To the credit of most of the commuters once they were on the train I saw made the best effort to smile. But a lot, no doubt, still cursing KTMB big-time.