The Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high speed rail (HSR) is a proposed high-speed rail line linking Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with Jurong East, Singapore. It was first announced by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in September 2010, with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong formally agreeing to the joint project in February 2013. The line was initially scheduled for completion in 2026.
However, the project faced political hurdles in Malaysia. Following the 2018 Malaysian general election, Najib was defeated and his successor Mahathir Mohamad initially announced the project would be scrapped. During a visit to Japan on 12 June 2018, he clarified that it would only be postponed due to high costs. On 5 September 2018, both governments announced operations would begin in January 2031. The 2020 Malaysian political crisis then brought the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government to power under Muhyiddin Yassin. A further extension was granted until the end of 2020 to review the project, but no agreement was reached and it was terminated on 1 January 2021 in a joint statement. Consequently, Malaysia paid Singapore S$102 million in compensation. After two years of uncertainty, the project was revived in July 2023 with the Malaysian government under Anwar Ibrahim calling for new proposals.
The proposed HSR line would span , cutting travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to about 90 minutes with trains running at speeds of up to . The line was planned to begin at Bandar Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and pass through towns and cities including Seremban, Malacca, Muar and Batu Pahat before terminating at Jurong East in Singapore's West Region.
History
Background A high-speed rail link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore was proposed in the late 1990s but due to high costs, the proposal was shelved. In 2006, YTL Corporation, operator of the Express Rail Link in Kuala Lumpur, revived the proposal, with a projected speed of 250 km/h (155 mph). This was expected to trim travel time between the two cities to 99 minutes, compared to 4–5 hours by road or 7 hours by conventional rail services, or 3 hours by air (including travel to and from the airports, check-in, boarding and other airport procedures). In 2008, the Malaysian government halted the project citing high-costs of over RM8 billion.
The proposal was highlighted in 2010 as a high-impact project, out of the 131 entry-point projects, in the Malaysian government's Economic Transformation Programme Roadmap in a bid to increase economic activities concurrently with greater economic synergy between two important regional financial hubs. Studies into the feasibility and conceptual details of the proposal were carried out in December 2010 and January 2011.
Announcements and plans The Prime Ministers of Malaysia and Singapore agreed to proceed with the HSR project after a meeting on 19 February 2013. A committee was tasked with looking into 'the details and modalities' of the project. At the meeting, Singapore and Malaysia have announced that the high-speed rail proposal would be finalised by end of 2014 with a targeted completion date of 2020.
The proposal for Singapore's link was considered by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in Budget 2014. According to the Leaders' Retreat which was held on 7 April 2014, the possible locations for the high-speed rail terminus was narrowed down to Tuas West, Jurong East or the Downtown Core. On 6 February 2015, the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia (JMCIM) released a press statement stating that Singapore had announced Jurong East as the final location for the high-speed rail terminus. However, the terminus would not be connected to the Jurong East MRT station.
Various parties have taken an interest in the project, such as Japan and South Korea. Similarly, during a state visit by the Prime Minister of Singapore to France, Singapore's Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew told the press that French firms are keen to participate in the project. On 7 October 2015, the LTA and SPAD jointly announced the launch of a "market sensing exercise" on the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail project.
Singapore and Malaysia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 19 July 2016 at a signing ceremony held at the then Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's official residence in Putrajaya, witnessed by both Lee Hsien Loong and Najib Razak. It was signed by Singapore Transport Minister and Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure Khaw Boon Wan along with Malaysian Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan. There were also details including a 25-metre-high bridge link near the Malaysia–Singapore Second Link and three services to be operated by two operators. At the same meeting, the leaders agreed on technical details for the Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) link, which will connect the Thomson–East Coast MRT line (TEL) to Johor Baru via another high bridge near the Johor–Singapore Causeway.
In 2015, the Malaysian government established MyHSR Corp to facilitate developing and implementing high-speed rail projects. The company was under the control of the Ministry of Finance and the supervision of the Malaysian Ministry of Transport.
Developments The Government of Singapore has made the second large acquisition of land for the project by requiring Raffles Country Club to vacate its plot as the site offers the "most suitable location" to run the HSR tracks after the bridge crossing and to place the tunnel portal leading to the tunnels that would take the HSR to the Jurong East terminus. The site is expected to be vacated by 31 July 2018, to be used for HSR crossover tracks and a siding facility to temporarily house a train near the border for safety or operational reasons. The site is now occupied by the Singapore Rail Test Centre. On 8 February 2017, LTA appointed engineering design firm AECOM Singapore to conduct an advanced engineering study for Singapore's stretch of the Singapore–Kuala Lumpur high-speed rail (HSR) infrastructure.
On 16 February 2017, LTA and MyHSR awarded the HSR joint development partner (JDP) contract to a consortium comprising WSP Engineering Malaysia, Mott MacDonald Malaysia and Ernst & Young Advisory Services. They would provide management support, technical advice on systems and operations, develop safety standards and help prepare tender documents for the joint project team of LTA and MyHSR. In the same month, it announced that the Singapore terminus would be designed by British architecture firm Farrells. On 17 October 2017, the Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak announced that the land acquisition process has begun in Malaysia for the project and also the station designs.
On 5 April 2018, MyHSR Corp announced the results of the selection process for the design and construction for the Malaysian portion of the project: A consortium of Malaysian Resources and Gamuda would build the northern part, and a consortium of Syarikat Pembenaan Yeoh Tiong Lay and TH Properties the southern part. The tender process for the Singapore tunnel sections was started in April 2018 with the start of construction expected in 2019.
The former Prime Minister and Opposition leader, Dr Mahathir Mohamad threatened to cancel or at least delay the project if he won the 14th Malaysian general election, which prompted the CEO of MyHSR Corp to urge all parties to refrain from politicising the project. By late May 2018, Mahathir confirmed that Malaysia would scrap the project, citing its high construction costs and downplaying its benefits. However, he appeared to backtrack on earlier statements during an official visit to Japan, commenting that the project was merely postponed until Malaysia was in better financial conditions, further reaffirming the peninsula's need for High-Speed Rail in the future. Among revisions being explored to reduce costs, was to align the route to the existing meter gauge Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) line to allow trains to run at 200 km/h with some upgrades in order to trim travel time to 2 hours and 10 minutes and lay a standard gauge track in parallel, with a fork running to Jurong East so that bilateral agreement is not violated.
On 5 September 2018, after meetings, Singapore and Malaysia have formally agreed to postpone the construction of the KL-Singapore High-Speed Rail until end-May 2020, with Malaysia having to pay Singapore S$15 million for costs incurred in suspending the project before the end of January 2019. In a joint statement, both nations also announced the HSR express service would be delayed until January 2031 instead of the original December 2026. A new agreement was signed by Malaysia's Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali and Singapore's Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan at the Prime Minister's Office in Putrajaya on Wednesday afternoon. Malaysia has since informed Singapore on 31 January 2019 that it has remitted S$15 million in abortive costs. In December 2019, the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said that Malaysia would be ok with the high speed rail project, but with trains running at a reduced speed to help reduce costs.
In April 2020, UBS argued that the coronavirus could make people switch from air travel to high speed rail, thus solidifying the case for the HSR.
On 29 May 2020, it was announced that Singapore was considering a request by the Malaysian government to extend the suspension of the HSR project. On 31 May, Singapore Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said that Singapore had agreed to the suspension until 31 December 2020.
In late December 2020, reports surfaced that Malaysia had decided to proceed with the HSR project alone, with the project stopping at Johor Bahru and not ending in Jurong, as originally planned. In response, a Singapore Ministry of Transport spokesman said both sides were still in discussion. The decision to end the line in Johor Bahru has been criticised by Johor PKR deputy chief Jimmy Puah Wee Tse, who questioned the economic viability of the new alignment.
Termination On 1 January 2021, the prime ministers of Malaysia and Singapore announced the termination of the HSR project. While both governments had held several discussions on Malaysia's proposed changes, they were unable to reach an agreement. However, some members of the public in Malaysia felt that the project would have spurred on local economies and rebound faster from the economic impact. Some Malaysian states, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan, which would have the line going through them had expressed that the cancellation would impact on their local economies and development plans. The Johor state government has expressed hope to continue the project without Singapore. In Singapore, however, it is believed by economics experts that the cancellation would have little impact on the Jurong Lake District development plans, since the HSR project was only included two years after the area's development plans were finalised. The land initially set aside for the HSR can be made used for other purposes.