The future of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) is finally clear. On 5 September 2018, Singapore and Malaysia officially signed an agreement to defer the HSR project for about two years. However, with this delay, the operations of the HSR will be pushed back by four years from the original target of December 2026 to January 2031. The additional delay is because both countries would need additional time to implement the project after resuming it, such as calling for new tenders etc. The agreement between the two nations did include a clause to say that if the HSR has not resume construction by 31 May 2020, the project would be considered terminated and Malaysia will have to reimburse Singapore for the wasted costs that have been incurred by Singapore so far. In the meantime, the ongoing joint tender for a company to operate the 350km line has been called off. Under the new agreement, Malaysia will have to reimburse Singapore $15 million for abortive costs before end of January 2019. The line between Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Jurong East in Singapore is estimated to cut travel time to 90 minutes, compared with more than four hours by car currently. As Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Singapore’s Minister for Transport and Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure, said in his Facebook post: “Many will be disappointed by the delay, but at least there is now greater clarity on the way forward for this mega project.”
