Confession: I’m a train otaku. Ever since I found out that you can take a train to JB from Singapore, I’ve been making up excuses to go to Johor. Need to buy bread? Go JB. Need to visit dentist? Go JB. Want a massage? Go JB.

Plus, the current SGD to MYR exchange rate doesn’t hurt my cause…

But even if trains don’t make you go all <333, the train is still an excellent way to travel to JB because they cut out all the stress and waiting of traffic jams and queueing up at customs.

A return trip costs only about S$10, but the real savings here is time. The train ride is just 5 minutes long, which means even after buffering in customs clearance and all, you can zip across the border in half an hour.

This is the complete idiot’s guide to taking the train from Singapore to JB.

What’s the train schedule & ticket price from Singapore to JB?

The one train that services the Singapore to JB route is called Shuttle Tebrau, and it’s operated by Malaysia’s national train operator, KTM. Below is the daily Shuttle Tebrau train schedule:

KTM train from Singapore to JB schedule More

As you can see, there are plenty of trains every day, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pre-book your train tickets. From experience, you’ll need to book in advance if you want to catch the train to JB on weekends and Friday nights.

There are 2 ways you can buy train tickets to JB: Either online via the KTM website, or over the counter at the train station. This table shows you how much train tickets cost:

Ticket sales channel Singapore to JB JB to Singapore KTM website RM16 RM5 (one-way) / RM16 (bought as return ticket) KTM counter (Woodlands) S$5 S$5 KTM counter (JB Sentral) RM16 RM5

I definitely recommend buying return tickets on the KTM website as early as you can. Tickets sell out ridiculously fast! To save money, you can buy your to and from tickets separately, so you pay RM5 + RM16 = RM21 instead of RM32.

Step 1: Buy KTM train tickets to JB online

KTM’s website used to be quite rubbish, but that looks set to change, because KTM launched a new KTM Shuttle Tebrau booking website as of Oct 2019:

new KTM website - train from Singapore to JB More

It’s now possible to view all available departures and arrivals on one page. Our collective prayers have been answered!!!

new KTM website - train from Singapore to JB More

To book your tickets, you need to fill in your details. The most important ones are your passport details, because train to JB tickets are now tied to your passport. There is no need to create an account, you can sign in by email / FB / Google.

new KTM website - train from Singapore to JB More