By Sharen Kaur
Published in NST on 21/4/2016
KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIA may follow the United Kingdom's high-speed rail (HSR) development model for its Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR system, Southeast Asia's most ambitious infrastructure project.
A tender for technical advisory services was called by MyHSR Corp Sdn Bhd last week and submission deadline is expected in early next month.
MyHSR Corp is the project delivery vehicle representing Malaysia for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR project.
Business Times was told that the technical adviser would be similar to High Speed Two Ltd's use of Program Development Partner (PDP) for its HS2 rail project in the UK.
HS2 is a dedicated high-speed railway that will connect London to Birmingham from 2026 and then, along a Y-shaped route, to Manchester in the west and Leeds in the east from 2033.
HS2 initially appointed a PDP in 2012 till this year to develop the scheme in order to take the project to the next stage. The PDP is assisting HS2 in the early forming years till the completion of the Hybrid Bill.
The journey involves developing a programme management system, planning and resourcing access to experts, especially short term basis, for HS2.
The target was to place a Hybrid Bill in Parliament in 2013 and seek to obtain Royal Assent by 2015. The PDP tender was won by CH2M, a global engineering and programme management company.
Having received royal assent, the UK company moved to implementation phase by tendering out for engineering delivery partner (EDP) last year.
The EDP requires a mixed of new skill sets from the partner, namely programme management during implementation phase involving tendering, design, construction, testing and commissioning.
HS2 recently named CH2M, as part of a consortium with Atkins and SENER, as the EDP responsible for the delivery of Phase One of HS2. The 10-year £350 million (RM1.95 billion) contract will see the consortium work with HS2L in an integrated team to drive long-term efficiencies across the design and construction of the line until the commissioning of the railway.
The consortium will provide expert engineering, programme management and construction management support, and assist with preparation for the procurement of the main civil contracts for the London to Birmingham stage of the route.
"Malaysia has extensive experience in road and conventional rail projects, including the current MRTs and LRTs. Malaysia adopted the project delivery partner concept to ensure the project delivery and completion is within budget and on time.
"For this HSR project, the complexities are much greater and the technology is new in this region and involves two countries. Even the civil design requirements are stricter to ensure the service is safe and reliable. UK is a good example of how efficiently HSR can be developed with the use of local railway skills and foreign HSR expertise," said a source.
The HSR involves a total of 350km. The line will have seven stops - two terminus in Bandar Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and Jurong East in Singapore, and five transit stations in Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri.
The express service between Bandar Malaysia and Jurong East will take 90 minutes from about four hours by car, while transit service will take 120 minutes on the same route.
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