Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail project to start in 2017: official

The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project is slated to start in 2017 and will be completed by 2022, according to a Wednesday report of Bernama, Malaysia's state news agency.

It quoted Prodyutt Dutt, chief development officer of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), as saying that the contract should be out in 2017 and it would take five years to complete the project.

"We also need to consult with the Singapore government and jointly decide when it should be ready," he said, adding that the awarding of the contract would be based on an open-tender basis.

"Based on a study, the HSR project will have positive returns for country's socio-economy, benefiting terminal cities and regenerates the cities in between," he said.

The High Speed Rail project between Singapore and Malaysia was agreed upon in 2013, which aims to cut down on travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to just 90 minutes. The high speed railway is regarded as a "game-changing iconic project," which is expected to boost connectivity, enhance business linkages, and improve people-to-people ties.

The project was earlier expected to be completed by 2020. However, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in May that the original timeline for Singapore-Kuala Lumpur High Speed Rail is "not really realistic" given the scale and complexity of the project, after meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak in a retreat in Singapore. Endi