KLIA Ekspres: 20 Years On, Still the Fastest Before Bangkok had its Airport Rail Link, before Jakarta launched its Soekarno–Hatta train, Malaysia had already built one. In 2002, the KLIA Ekspres began operating between Kuala Lumpur Sentral and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), making it the first airport–city express train in Southeast Asia. At the time, the idea of reaching an airport without highway traffic was a bold step. The KLIA Ekspres offered exactly that: a non-stop 57 km ride