What next for the high speed rail to Singapore?
28-Dec-2025 by MENG YEW CHOONG | TheStar
WHEN KTM Bhd finally unveiled its Kuala Lumpur to Johor Baru ETS (electric train service) on Dec 12 – after around seven years of construction – one thing was greeted with a collective sigh: the long journey time of nearly 4.5 hours.
On paper, it is possible for a train running non-stop from KL Sentral to reach JB Sentral, a rail distance of 330km, in three hours, given the design speed of the alignment, which is 160kph.
In practice, however, KTMB is running the ETS sets at 140kph to maintain a decent safety margin on the metre-gauge network, as well as to keep the lid on maintenance costs.
A significant limitation is the relatively dated metre-gauge alignment that was inherited from the colonial days, which sees KTMB’s southern alignment snaking through the interiors of Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor back in the days when moving freight was considered far more important than passengers.
The new southern ETS makes 15 stops between Kuala Lumpur and Johor Baru – including at Pulau Sebang (Tampin), Batang Melaka, Gemas, Segamat, Labis, Bekok, Paloh, Kluang, Rengam, Layang-Layang, Kulai, and Kempas Baru – before arriving at JB Sentral. This means a journey time of at least four hours and 20 minutes. This is a disappointment for those who are time-strapped, especially as the ETS is actually averaging only 76kph.
Some explain away this unsatisfactory travel duration by pointing to the Klang Valley Double Track (KVDT) rehabilitation work, which currently stretches from parts of Klang Valley to Serem-ban.
This situation is expected to last until 2029 (or later), thus locking in the “slow” journey time to JB Sentral for the next few years.
Worse, as there is practically only one single KTMB alignment, experts are already flagging other parts of the KTMB network that will need rehabilitation in the years to come, thus affecting future travel durations. For example, parts of the stretch between Seremban to Gemas were completed much earlier than the Gemas to Johor Baru stretch, with the Seremban-Sungai Gadut stretch completed in 2011, while the Sungai Gadut-Gemas stretch was completed in 2013.
Depending on the state of maintenance and the loading imposed on the tracks, these parts of the infrastructure need to be fully renewed at some point, beyond just simple maintenance. With this in mind, there is absolutely no guarantee that the ETS’s average speed will increase, while there are certainly many things that can slow it down.
Do we still need the cross-border HSR?
Some people have argued that the completion of the Gemas-Johor Baru double track, coupled with the impending completion of the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link by the end of 2026, will remove the need for the proposed Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR).
However, such arguments ignore the reality that any crossing into Singapore from Johor Baru will run into the massive crowd heading in and out of Johor and Singapore – making it among the world’s busiest land crossings – almost daily.
As such, a bottleneck is expected during the customs and immigration clearance process.
Furthermore, Malaysia Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd has confirmed that there is a 450m gap between the ETS platform at JB Sentral and the RTS station, though it is understood that a travelator will help smooth the walk somewhat.
Due to the expected high number of cross-border travellers, crossing into Singapore using the LRT will take some time during peak hours, which starts even before 5am on the Johor Baru side.
Given this scenario, it is not inconceivable that a journey from KL Sentral into Singapore via the RTS during morning peaks can take up to six hours due to the expected congestion.
“New ETS train is fun, but not sure if will do this again,” posted Kerryn Lee, a Penangite currently based in Singapore.
She documented on Instagram how she took the northbound ETS from JB Sentral on the second day it opened for service, and it took her 7.5 hours to reach KL after starting her cross-border journey from Bugis, Singapore.
Revisiting the HSR
In its original form, the KL-SG HSR was to complete the non-stop journey from Bandar Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur to Jurong East in Singapore, after passing Iskandar Puteri in Johor, in no more than 90 minutes.
This 90-minute cross-border journey time is guaranteed as all immigration or customs formalities will be completed before the passenger boards the train, whether in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.
While not explicitly stated by the project proponent, the alignment and infrastructure that allows the 90-minute non-stop journey also allows those from Kuala Lumpur to reach Iskandar Puteri in a mere two hours, even after the train stops at Sepang-Putrajaya (near Bangi), Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar, and Batu Pahat.
With the HSR, it is entirely possible to live in Seremban and reach Kuala Lumpur in well under 30 minutes daily, showing that the benefits of HSR flow in many ways, and not just towards those heading to Singapore.
Samuel Tan, CEO of Johor-based Olive Tree Property Consultants, a boutique property consultancy, said there is still ample room for the cross-border HSR.
“The HSR competes not with the bus or the ETS, but with air travel [KL International Airport to Changi] and private cars for business and affluent leisure travellers. A six-hour door-to-door journey via ETS+RTS is not a competitive product for that segment.
“We can frame this as a tale of two futures for cross-border rail. One future is incremental, where the ETS+RTS link is a major practical upgrade that solves specific problems, such as decongesting the Causeway,” said Tan, who argued that it is important to keep an eye on the “other future”, which is transformational.
“The HSR remains the visionary project that redefines the economic and social geography of the peninsula. Its business case hinges on capturing the high-value, time-sensitive traffic that will never be satisfied by a six-hour, multistage journey.
“The new ETS timing does not kill the HSR dream. It simply clarifies that the dream is about something much bigger than just moving trains faster on existing tracks. It is about creating a new, seamless geographic reality. The ongoing congestion at the border, even with the RTS, will be a constant reminder of the problem the HSR has been designed to solve,” he said.
One such example is the 450m walkway from JB Sentral to the RTS station.
“While not extreme, it adds a layer of inconvenience, especially with luggage, or for the elderly. It is a friction point that true seamless travel seeks to eliminate.
“The reality actually underscores HSR’s unique value proposition, which moves the discussion beyond speed comparisons to the more fundamental concepts of seamlessness, predictability, and passenger experience,” he said.
For TC Chew, a rail expert with Arup – a global engineering consultancy specialising in design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services for the built environment – the time savings of HSR is already well-proven.
“With the current journey time, the ETS simply cannot facilitate a daily cross-border workforce, which is where the economic value lies,” said Chew, who is Arup’s managing director for the Asia-Pacific region.
“KTMB’s legacy alignment and operations cater to mixed traffic, with faster operations being checked by a mix of slower cargo, Komuter, and regional services,” he said.
Experts also note that KTMB’s network often passes through old towns with limited space for sizeable new developments, while the proposed HSR stations will be located slightly away from mature areas to spread development more equitably, with the intent of attracting high-value or cutting edge industries in ways old towns can’t accommodate.
In its original proposal, the HSR was to pass through high-growth areas such as Seremban (Labu), Ayer Keroh, Muar, and Batu Pahat, along with Iskandar Puteri.
“Taking the big picture into account, the ETS cannot deliver the ‘time is money’ efficiency required to replace short-haul flights or integrate the two national economies the way the HSR would be able to,” Chew added.
Industry insiders say Malaysia and Thailand stand to benefit greatly from a KL-Bangkok HSR [BTTV]
By Sharen Kaur – January 8, 2024 | NST
Can the potential high-speed rail connection between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore (KL-Singapore HSR) be a component of a larger scheme extending as far north as Bangkok in Thailand or even further?
According to industry insiders, a route connecting KL and Bangkok will make it possible to link it to other regional HSR lines to form larger networks that will reach Laos and China.
With advancements connected to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the expected standard gauge could facilitate direct freight services to China and other destinations in addition to passenger traffic.
“It would make sense if Thailand initiated the feasibility study and Malaysia could bring in China to provide the funding, construction, operations and larger volume of passengers from their region into KL and Bangkok,” the insiders said.
According to an insider, China seems to be the most likely option to act as an external supplier, tying the project into the Singapore-Kunming rail link, a bigger project that will connect China with a number of Asean members.
“In the long run, Malaysia may benefit from the plan for a KL-Bangkok HSR, although some may argue that it may not be economically feasible given that the distance between the two links is greater than that of KL to Singapore,” said the insider.
The capitals of Malaysia and Thailand are separated by about 1,400-1,500 kilometres, but Padang Besar in Perlis is only roughly 450 km from Kuala Lumpur.
In comparison, the HSR from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore is between 330 km and 350 km long.
The insider told Business Times that Malaysia and Thailand stand to benefit greatly from the KL-Bangkok HSR.
They said the rapid growth of bilateral economic integration, which includes cross-border production chains, has increased demand for travel between the two countries.
“As the Asean region has rapidly developed into one of the most dynamic and attractive areas for investment opportunities, there is a huge opportunity for Malaysia to turn the economic tide to ensure the continual growth of the country with a much-needed impetus on the scale of a large infrastructure project such as the KL-Singapore HSR.
“The KL-Singapore HSR represents a key driver to harness economic integration opportunities with the Asean region and China, along with the grand and ambitious vision for the country’s future development and connectivity to the Belt and Road Initiative,” the insider said.
He said the development of the HSR in Malaysia has the capacity to fundamentally accelerate the country’s economic recovery and raise the bar for the country’s transport system, which would lead to a multitude of economic, social, and environmental benefits.
Catching up with regional peers
Due to the positive correlation and interdependence between infrastructure investments and economic multipliers, large infrastructure projects are widely acknowledged as being essential to a country’s economic growth.
Indonesia, Malaysia’s immediate neighbour, began offering Jakarta-Bandung HSR services in October 2023 with the goal of using them as a tool for long-term economic transformation.
With a travel time of 40 minutes, this link between Indonesia’s first and third largest metropolitan areas, which together have a population of 42 million, has greatly benefited the country’s citizens’ freedom of movement as the first HSR in Southeast Asia.
“The implementation of the Jakarta-Bandung HSR and the expansion of the plan to connect to Surabaya could potentially increase the income of the surrounding areas along the corridor.
“This is because businesses and individuals will have improved market access to the cities, industrial clusters, food processing and textile industries, and many other sectors,” said the insider.
Included in the long-term plan is the investment in the Java corridor, which is expected to generate an additional 2.2 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the area.
With the HSR serving as a major catalyst, Thailand has also developed the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), which is expected to generate more than one million job opportunities and an additional RM 2.5 trillion in GDP by 2037.
According to him, the Shinkansen was crucial to Japan’s economic reform during the Income Doubling Plan initiative in the 1960s, as evidenced by the country’s yearly growth average of over 10 per cent, which exceeded the initial goal of 7.2 per cent.
“The size of the Japanese economy also doubled in less than seven years. This is the outcome of the Japanese government’s initiative to move the focus of economic development from densely populated cities further into undeveloped areas through the Shinkansen, with a focus on connectivity and mobility as the primary drivers to spur regional development through the Pacific Belt Zone,” he said.
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