Malaysia's rail chief moots enabling speedy clearance for travellers on JB-Singapore RTS

IF Mohd Zarif Hashim has his way, 15 minutes would be all it takes for a train passenger to cross from Johor Baru to Singapore and vice versa. This includes the time needed to clear immigration in both countries.

For this to work, Malaysia and Singapore would have to innovate and adopt a new workflow for border checks in the respective terminal stations at Bukit Chagar and Woodlands North of the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link, the chief executive of Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) told The Business Times (BT) in an interview.

The RTS Link project was suspended in April 2019 at Malaysia's request to allow it more time to undertake a review but has since resumed following a ceremony at the Causeway in July 2020.

Under a 2018 bilateral agreement, each government appointed its own infrastructure company to fund, build, own, maintain and renew the civil infrastructure and stations of the RTS Link in its territory. Following the resumption, Malaysia changed its infraco from Prasarana Malaysia Berhad to Malaysia Rapid Transit System Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MRT Corp. For Singapore, the infraco is the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

Mr Mohd Zarif, who is overseeing the RTS Link project on the Malaysian side, is more concerned about the efficiency of the rail operations once it is up and running, rather than the brick-and-mortar aspect of building the infrastructure. He is confident of his company's track record. In 2017, MRT Corp successfully delivered the country's first MRT line, the 51km MRT Kajang Line. It is on course to commence Phase One operation of the 57.7km MRT Putrajaya Line in July.

He said: "I don't see any major issues (on construction works and delivery timeline); we have completed so many civil infrastructure projects before.

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"I must say my concern is that after we complete this project, whether we can deliver up to the expectations, basically moving people seamlessly within a 15-minute time frame between the two countries."

Mr Mohd Zarif questioned the worth of spending billions of dollars on the infrastructure to achieve a ride time of five minutes only for passengers to face bottlenecks at the immigration checkpoints.

"We need to look at the entire process, the flow of people's movement end to end. If you ask me, my wish is that we can clear the border formalities in Malaysia in five minutes, clear the formalities on the Singapore side in five minutes, and take a train ride in five minutes," he said.

The RTS Link envisages passengers travelling in either direction to clear both Singapore and Malaysia authorities at the point of departure, without going through immigration clearance again at the point of arrival. This is not unlike the arrangement under which the KTMB operated its shuttle service between JB Sentral and Woodlands prior to the border closure for general travel following Malaysia's imposition of the Movement Control Order (MCO) arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Asked if the 15-minute target is too ambitious given the anticipated large volume of human traffic - the RTS Link is capable of moving up to 10,000 passengers per hour per direction - Mr Mohd Zarif remained convinced it is achievable.

He suggested the two countries establish a common green lane programme for frequent travellers for quicker clearance of immigration and customs, and has broached these ideas to his "counterpart at LTA".

Concerns over border security, however, mean they are easier said than done, although it may be possible if there is advancement in facial technology that could allow rapid identification of individuals in a mass setting. Passenger service for the RTS Link is slated to start end-2026.

Passenger throughput worries aside, the RTS Link project is progressing satisfactorily.

Singapore has awarded two contracts totalling S$1.1 billion for the construction of RTS Link Woodlands North station, tunnels and the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) building, as well as the construction of the RTS Link viaduct and tunnels in Singapore.

As for Malaysia, Mr Mohd Zarif said operations have not been significantly affected by the movement restrictions imposed by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19.

"As far as the RTS Link is concerned, we are not in the full swing yet. So the pandemic has not affected our work that much.

"As for our Putrajaya Line, we are at the peak of construction right now. Despite the MCO, our construction is on track. We hope to begin our Phase One operations this July."

Mr Mohd Zarif revealed that former Rapid KL senior executive Shamsul Rizal Md Yusof has been appointed the CEO of the joint venture (JV) between Prasarana Malaysia and Singapore's SMRT Corp that will operate the RTS Link. According to him, the JV vehicle already has a name - Rapid Transit System Operation .

"Its primary responsibility today is to finalise some of the operational systems that are going to be put in place once the civil structure is completed," he added.

In Johor, most of the land acquisition issues pertaining to the RTS Link project have been resolved.

Mr Mohd Zarif said: "We are very encouraged that some of the land matters in Malaysia that typically would take one to two years to settle, we managed to settle in just a few months. We have other parcels of land that we would need to acquire as well and we will complete these acquisitions by April this year."

Last November, Malaysia held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site for the Bukit Chagar station. Mr Mohd Zarif told BT the station will be supported by an adjacent 16-storey building, encompassing the CIQ complex. MRT Corp will take up four storeys of space. The remaining space not taken by the CIQ will be used as offices and residences, he added.

On Friday, the company unveiled the winning design for the Bukit Chagar station.

Dubbed "The Integration of Two", the design's double helix symbol impressed Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar for drawing on the historical and intertwined relationship between Johor Baru and Singapore, MRT Corp said in a statement.

The Sultan was the patron of the competition and chairman of the jury panel, which picked the winner from an initial list of 91 submissions. Johor Baru-based architect Chin Yee Chong from SM Architects Sdn Bhd received RM250,000 (S$82,126) in prize money for his winning entry.