Malaysia hopes to speed up revival of Singapore-KL High Speed Rail, plans for extension to Bangkok

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is eager to speed up the process to revive the high-speed rail (HSR) project to link Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, after the mega project was terminated by Malaysia last year and a compensation of S$102.8 million was paid to Singapore.

He was quoted in a report in Bernama as saying that there are ongoing discussions being carried out by the transport ministers of both countries to restart the project, as there will be changes to the terms and conditions.

“If possible, we want it to speed up because Malaysia also has plans to establish a high-speed rail between Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok,” he said, adding that the Singapore-KL HSR could connect all the way to the Thai capital - if all 3 countries can reach an agreement.

He noted that there was even the potential to one day extend the rail link to as far as China.

The idea of reviving the Singapore-KL HSR project - which was worth RM110 billion (S$34.2 billion) when it was being planned - was brought up by Ismail Sabri earlier this year. A joint special committee with Singapore was set up in May to discuss the project’s viability.

Malaysia and Singapore signed a bilateral agreement in 2016 to construct the 350 km-long railway line. At the time, the 2 governments had said that the fast trains could travel from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in just 90 minutes. It would take 4 to 5 hours to make the same journey by land.

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The terminal station in Singapore was due to be built in Jurong East, with Malaysia’s terminus being in Bandar Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. But 4 months after Malaysia’s Barisan Nasional coalition lost its majority support at the May 2018 general election, the HSR project was then suspended.

After the deadline to end the suspension passed on Dec 31, 2020, the HSR project was mutually terminated by the 2 countries after they failed to reach an agreement to move ahead.

With the HSR talks back on the table once more, there is talk in some circles in Malaysia that Ismail Sabri could also call for an early general election in the coming months.

In a report by Nikkei Asia, Ismail Sabri hinted that Malaysians could go to the polls in the later part of this year. “If the economy is not going to be good, we cannot (drag the election) until next year or it would backfire on the government,” he said.

He added that there are ongoing talks with the top 5 leaders of the United Malays National Organisation on the exact timing of the election, but it would ultimately be left to the Malaysian king to have the final say.