Site in Sungai Besi chosen for high-speed railway station

PUTRAJAYA: Bandar Malaysia in Sungai Besi has been chosen as the site for the country’s terminal for the Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) link service.

The selection of the site was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at a joint press conference with his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.

“We have decided the terminal for the HSR link will be in Bandar Malaysia, which is the current (Royal Malaysian) Air Force base in Sungai Besi.

“The project has created a lot of excitement and both sides are working hard to achieve the 2020 deadline for completion,” he said.

Najib and Lee earlier had a four-eyed meeting in conjunction with the fifth Malaysia-Singapore Leaders’ Retreat at the Prime Minister’s Office at Perdana Putra Building here.

Both leaders later attended a delegation meeting where the HSR project and the Rapid Transit System (RTS) link between Johor Baru and Singapore were high on their agenda.

The HSR, announced last year, will reportedly cost RM40bil and will cut rail travel time between Kuala Lumpur to Singapore from six hours to just 90 minutes.

The 330km rail line is expected to be completed by 2020 and will connect two terminus stations (Kuala Lumpur and Singapore) via five transit stops spread out across Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor.

Najib also said Malaysia would decide soon on the best option for the RTS.

“We have about 27 possible options to consider to make RTS the most efficient and cost effective transport system that will benefit both nations.

“The first phase of the joint engineering study to develop the possible alignments and proposal for the RTS is already completed,” he said.

Najib said there was also a proposal to build a friendship bridge as a long-term initiative to enhance connectivity.

In a question and answer session later, Najib said the 2020 deadline for the HSR project to complete was decided as he and Lee wanted it to be an ambitious target.

Lee said that for the end point of the project in Singapore, there were three possibilities.

“One is at Tuas West which is close to the border, two is at Jurong East which will be a major transportation, economic and residential zone for Singapore, and third is in the city which would be ideal but actually very difficult to do because the expense would be very high.”

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