Malaysia revives high-speed railway plan to link Kuala Lumpur with Singapore

Name: Is Indonesia’s China-made railway on track to launch? Jakarta says it’s ‘under control’
Uploaded: 2023-07-12T03:36:33.000Z
Duration: 4 min 1 s
Description: Is Indonesia’s China-made railway on track to launch? Jakarta says it’s ‘under control’

Malaysia and Singapore cancelled the plan to build a 350km rail line connecting the two countries more than two years ago amid disagreements

Companies from China, Japan and South Korea previously expressed interest building, operating and financing the estimated US$17 billion project

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A Malaysian KTM train approaches the Woodlands land border checkpoint with Singapore last summer. Malaysian-government owned entity MyHSR Corp has called for proposals to develop and operate the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail project via a public-private partnership model. Photo: AFP

Reuters

Published: 11:36am, 12 Jul 2023

Malaysia says it is seeking proposals from private firms to develop a high-speed railway between its capital Kuala Lumpur and neighbouring Singapore, reviving a multibillion-dollar project called off more than two years ago.

Malaysia and Singapore had cancelled a plan to build a 350km (217-mile) rail line connecting the two countries after they failed to agree on several proposed changes to the project.

At the time the project was estimated to cost around US$17 billion and companies from China, Japan, South Korea and Europe had expressed an interest in contracts to build, operate and finance the trains and rail assets.

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Is Indonesia’s China-made railway on track to launch? Jakarta says it’s ‘under control’

In a statement on Tuesday, MyHSR Corp, a Malaysian-government owned entity responsible for the project, called for the private sector to submit proposals to develop and operate the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail project via a public-private partnership model.

MyHSR invited local and international firms and consortiums to submit proposals.

“[The process] marks the government’s initiative to reactivate the … project via new funding mechanisms and implementation models in efforts to further improve the rail transport infrastructure and to invigorate the national economy,” it said.

Singapore’s transport ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.