By Sharen Kaur
sharen@mediaprima.com.my
Published in NST on April 18, 2013
sharen@mediaprima.com.my
Published in NST on April 18, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR: Details of the high-speed rail (HSR) link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are being ironed out and tenders will be called by year-end, the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) said.
SPAD chief development officer Azmi Abdul Aziz said the project will take off this year.
"We are waiting for everything to stabilise, such as the general election. It's only after the elections that it will be better for us to move forward.
"Our power limits us to just the Malaysian border. Anything beyond Malaysia we will have to discuss with Singapore.
"To make things happen, the key details have to be there. From next month, we will have more details on how the rail line will be linked between the two countries," Azmi said yesterday.
Malaysia and Singapore in February had in principal agreed to build the HSR link between the two countries, with a target completion date of 2020.
Business Times recently reported that the government is budgeting around RM40 billion for the project, which includes RM10 billion to buy high-speed bullet trains.
Sources familiar with the plan said that both governments are expected to discuss on whether to develop an undersea rail tunnel or an over-sea railway connection.
They also said the line in Malaysia will start from Greater Kuala Lumpur and the final stop would be either in Tuas, central Singapore or somewhere near the Changi International Airport.
The HSR link will have a combination of direct services running non-stop between the two countries, cutting travel time to about 80 minutes or stopping at intermediate stations, which would take around one hour and 45 minutes for each trip.
Based on an initial SPAD study, five new railway stations would be built at Seremban (Negri Sembilan), Ayer Keroh (Malacca), Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Malaysia (all Johor) before heading towards Singapore.
Currently, it takes about eight hours by train, five hours by road and 45 minutes by flight to reach Singapore from Kuala Lumpur.
The HSR project has attracted three proposals from the UEM Group Bhd-Ara Group, YTL Corp Bhd and China Infraglobe-Global Rail Sdn Bhd.
YTL, operator of the KLIA Express, first mooted the idea to build a high-speed rail in the late 1990s and again in 2006.
SPAD chief development officer Azmi Abdul Aziz said the project will take off this year.
"We are waiting for everything to stabilise, such as the general election. It's only after the elections that it will be better for us to move forward.
"Our power limits us to just the Malaysian border. Anything beyond Malaysia we will have to discuss with Singapore.
Malaysia and Singapore in February had in principal agreed to build the HSR link between the two countries, with a target completion date of 2020.
Business Times recently reported that the government is budgeting around RM40 billion for the project, which includes RM10 billion to buy high-speed bullet trains.
Sources familiar with the plan said that both governments are expected to discuss on whether to develop an undersea rail tunnel or an over-sea railway connection.
They also said the line in Malaysia will start from Greater Kuala Lumpur and the final stop would be either in Tuas, central Singapore or somewhere near the Changi International Airport.
The HSR link will have a combination of direct services running non-stop between the two countries, cutting travel time to about 80 minutes or stopping at intermediate stations, which would take around one hour and 45 minutes for each trip.
Based on an initial SPAD study, five new railway stations would be built at Seremban (Negri Sembilan), Ayer Keroh (Malacca), Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Malaysia (all Johor) before heading towards Singapore.
Currently, it takes about eight hours by train, five hours by road and 45 minutes by flight to reach Singapore from Kuala Lumpur.
The HSR project has attracted three proposals from the UEM Group Bhd-Ara Group, YTL Corp Bhd and China Infraglobe-Global Rail Sdn Bhd.
YTL, operator of the KLIA Express, first mooted the idea to build a high-speed rail in the late 1990s and again in 2006.
No comments:
Post a Comment