Singapore-KL travel to benefit from new high-speed rail link.

Date: 20 February 2013

Singapore-KL travel to benefit from new high-speed rail link.

THE proposed high-speed rail system linking Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in 90 minutes is set to be a game changer for travel between the two cities, as airlines and bus companies mull over how to remain competitive.

Scheduled for completion in 2020, it will dramatically cut the journey between the two cities, which currently averages eight hours by rail. Ticket prices and end-point station locations have not yet been announced.

The agreement, touted to be the biggest joint infrastructure project by the two countries, was unveiled by Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak as they wrapped up their annual leaders’ retreat in Singapore yesterday.

Responding to the development, Sebastian Yap, a committee member of the Express Bus Agencies Association, told TTG Asia e-Daily: "This is a huge blow to our routes between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, but this is all part of the developing technology today so we have no choice but to embrace it.”

Yap said that coach operators would have to change the way they operate and added that buses could offer travellers the option of visiting other cities in Malaysia apart from Kuala Lumpur.

Lotus Ooi, general manager, Konsortium Express & Tours, agreed. “We will have to look at new options now to complement each other (in order) to meet changing market demand,” he pointed out.

Logan Velaitham, CEO of AirAsia Singapore, however, felt there would be minimal impact on the LCC. “We compete against our cost at all times and not against others’. In addition to a cost strategy, AirAsia adopts a ‘value innovation’ strategy by carefully studying market relevance and embracing technology to help improve efficiency and stay relevant in the ever-changing market.” (See CAPA's detailed analysis on air traffic impact.)

Apart from the planned fast trains, the two leaders visited joint projects in Johor and broke ground for the first of two wellness projects in Medini Iskandar, reported local broadsheet The Straits Times. The two-hectare Afiniti in Medini North will have a wellness centre, shops, residences, a corporate training centre, as well as a 310-unit serviced apartment managed by CapitaLand's Ascott. The other project, Avira, will be located at Medini Central.

The prime ministers also witnessed the signing between CapitaLand, Temasek Holdings and Iskandar Waterfront Holdings for a waterfront township to be built on a manmade island in Danga Bay, which will have a marina, a shopping mall, office space, homes and recreational facilities.

By Lee Pei Qi, Singapore

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