Tender called to study possible systems, corridors for high-speed rail link to KL

SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) yesterday called for a tender to study possible 30km-long corridors for the Singapore leg of the proposed High-Speed Rail (HSR) link with Kuala Lumpur.

The tender was announced four days after the conclusion of the fifth Malaysian-Singapore leaders’ retreat on Monday, where Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak reiterated their commitment towards completing the ambitious project by 2020.

The Singapore Government is considering three options to site the terminal station — Tuas West, Jurong East and the city centre.

Apart from assessing the technical feasibility of the possible corridors, the engineering feasibility study will also look at, among other things, the transportation connectivity for the three possible terminal station locations, the LTA said in its press release.

The authority said the study is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.

Based on a 33-page tender document on the terms of reference, the study has to meet a range of objectives, including comparing the different HSR systems around the world and recommending a suitable system for Singapore, as well as developing necessary connections to existing or future MRT stations.

It also has to, for example, assess the environmental impact on surroundings, propose a power supply for the station and determine costs for the project.

The study also has to come up with a conceptual layout for the terminal station and design it such that it is an “urban node that ... promotes a conducive environment for work, retail and leisure”.

Incident-management procedures will also have to be drawn up, including strategies for an emergency fault train recovery, inspection regime of trains and the mode of detrainment in the event of situations such as a system failure.

The appointed consultant must submit a preliminary engineering feasibility report after two-and-a-half months from the date of commencement. After six months, the consultant has to put up a final report.

The idea of a high-speed rail link between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur — which is expected to cut travel time to only 90 minutes — was first announced in February last year during a leaders’ retreat in Singapore.

On Monday, Mr Lee and Mr Najib acknowledged at a joint press conference at the end of the retreat that the timeline was challenging.

The next day, in a roundtable interview with editors of regional newspaper grouping Asia News Network, Mr Lee said many aspects of the project have to be studied, discussed and agreed upon.

“But if we can get the high-speed rail between Singapore and KL built, whether it is 2020 or whether it is a bit later, I think it will make a very big difference to the connection between two very vibrant cities ... It is a game changer,” Mr Lee said.