High-speed rail will spur growth in hub cities

THE Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) has been highly anticipated ever since the Malaysian Prime Minister announced in September 2010 the instigation of the HSR connecting the two neighbours. Initiated by YTL Corp Bhd way back in the late 90s, this RM8bil to RM14bil project has so far received mixed views from the public.

HSR has been operating long ago in our Asian counterparts especially in Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea. For comparison, China's HSR network by the year 2013 will be at 6,000 km, exceeding Japan's HSR network of 2,459 km. Last year, in the United States, the Obama administration invested US$8bil in federal stimulus money to create 13 high-speed rail corridors and billions of dollars of new business and tens of thousands of jobs are expected to flow to four hub cities Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando and Albany, NY where plans for major high-speed rail networks are located.