The Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Bandar Malaysia, Sungai Besi will be redevloped into the country’s terminal for the Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) link service.
The selection of the site was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at a joint press conference in Putrajaya with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.
“We have decided the terminal for the HSR link will be in Bandar Malaysia, which is the current (Royal Malaysian) Air Force base in Sungai Besi.
“The project has created a lot of excitement and both sides are working hard to achieve the 2020 deadline for completion,” he said.
Announced last year, the HSR is reported to cost RM40 billion and will cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur to Singapore from six hours to a mere 90 minutes.
The 330km rail line is expected to be completed by 2020 and will connect two terminus stations (KL and Singapore) with five transit stops in between, spread out across Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor.
In a question and answer session later, Najib said the 2020 deadline for the HSR project to complete was decided as he and Lee wanted it to be an ambitious target.
Lee said that for the end point of the project in Singapore, there were three possibilities.
“One is at Tuas West which is close to the border, two is at Jurong East which will be a major transportation, economic and residential zone for Singapore, and third is in the city which would be ideal but actually very difficult to do because the expense would be very high.”
Story: The Star Online
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