Malaysia, Singapore terminate high-speed rail link project

Illustrative photo. (Source: theborneopost.com)

A multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail link between Singapore and Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur has been terminated.

Malaysia had proposed several changes to the project but was unable to reach an agreement with Singapore on them, according to a joint statement from Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issued on January 1.

Malaysia will have to compensate Singapore for costs already incurred, the Singapore Transport Ministry said.

First announced in 2013, the project linking Kuala Lumpur to Singapore has been estimated by analysts to cost around 17 billion USD. The 350km-long project is expected to reduce travel time between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to around 90 minutes by train, from the current 11 hours on existing train services./.

VNA