Singapore, Malaysia agree to resume RTS Link project; due to operate by end-2026

SINGAPORE and Malaysia inked an agreement on Thursday to resume a long-awaited cross-border train project that will connect the city-state with Johor Bahru, according to a joint statement from both countries.

This marks the resumption of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link project, which had been suspended since April 1, 2019 at Malaysia's request. It is now expected to begin operations by end-2026, instead of end-2024.

The ceremony was witnessed by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Muhyiddin Yassin at the Causeway, the statement said. Officials from both countries remained on their respective sides of the Causeway during the ceremony.

Speaking to the media after the ceremony, Mr Lee said the RTS Link project is valuable to Singapore not only in terms of easing congestion on the Causeway, it also shows cooperation between the two countries even during difficult times amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The RTS Link will be a standalone LRT system, instead of leveraging the Thomson-East Coast Line's (TEL) MRT system, following fresh negotiations, the statement said. Its capacity remains at the previously-agreed 10,000 passengers per hour per direction.

This also means the RTS Link will no longer use the existing TEL Mandai Depot, and a new depot will be constructed in Wadi Hana, Johor Bahru, according to the statement.

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Both Singapore and Malaysia have separately appointed an infrastructure company to fund, own, maintain and renew the civil infrastructure and stations in its territory, it said.

Malaysia has changed its infrastructure company to Malaysia Rapid Transit System, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mass Rapid Transit Corporation. It was previously Prasarana Malaysia.

Singapore's infrastructure company remains the Land Transport Authority.

The RTS Link will continue to feature co-location of customs, immigration and quarantine facilities, so that passengers only have to clear customs once at their point of departure. Both countries reaffirmed their commitment to ensure the RTS Link will be well integrated into their respective transport networks, the statement said.

The statement noted that the project had been resumed due to three key agreements.

These are an agreement to amend the RTS Link bilateral agreement, a joint-venture agreement between Singapore's SMRT RTS and Malaysia's Prasarana RTS Operations to constitute RTS Operations and a concession agreement for both sides to appoint RTS Operations as the operating company for the first 30-year concession period.

Mr Lee also said that he hopes the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project, which has also been delayed, will go through as well, given the economic benefit it is expected to bring to both countries.

"The Malaysian side has given us certain proposals on the changes, which we are studying carefully, and we'll discuss further with them," Mr Lee said.

"I hope we'll be able to work something out because the basic thought behind it - that Singapore and Malaysia are two major economies and Singapore and KL (Kuala Lumpur) particularly are two cities where there's a lot of to-and-fro, and the more we can make it convenient, I think the more business we can do, and the closer the two territories will be in terms of rapport, in terms of friendship," he said.

The HSR project was almost axed in 2018 after Malaysia went through a change of government, but a deal was later negotiated to suspend rather than cancel the project. In May this year, Malaysia sought to extend the suspension until the end of 2020.