City dwellers who wish to return to their hometowns to celebrate Deepavali can still purchase Electric Train Service (ETS) tickets for travel from Oct 28 to 31.

Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) president Lt Col (Rtd) Datuk Sarbini Tijan said more than 50,000 tickets were made available for the period.

"There are still about 40 percent of seats available for the journey from Padang Besar to Gemas and KL Sentral to Butterworth.

"KTMB provides about 12,000 tickets daily and an additional 1,280 tickets during the festive period, and travellers can still get tickets at KTMB counters," he said at the launch of the additional ETS for Deepavali here, today.

Sarbini said the four additional ETS train services scheduled to operate during the four days made it a total of 44 trips a day to meet demand during the period.

He advised the public to purchase their tickets in advance and not wait until the last minute.

Earlier, KTMB introduced a special promotional menu for ETS in conjunction with Deepavali from Oct 17 to Nov 5, with delicacies such as Masala Vadai, Masala Tosai, Chicken Briyani and Muruku served on banana leaves.

Transport Ministry advisor Tan Sri M.Kayveas and KTMB chairman Datuk Nawawi Ahmad were also present. -- Bernama