Singapore and Malaysia are separated by a narrow stretch of water: the Johor Strait. With both countries bustling economies, trade between the two of them is essential and as such there is frequent travel from one to the other.
However, with only two crossings and 350,000 journeys over the Johor Strait a day, travel times have become unimaginably lengthy. Despite only being a few kilometres from Singapore to Malaysia, drivers have been known to take four hours to cross the water.
The arduous journeys are soon to become a thing of the past however, with the construction of a new £2.3bn high-speed rail link carrying passengers over the water in a mere six minutes.
The aim is to have the link completed by January 1 2027. In fact, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke is bullish about the timeline for completion: “We are 100 per cent confident that the RTS Link project will be completed and operational by Jan 1, 2027.”
It has be branded “one of the most crucial construction projects in the world”, with the expectation being that the mainly overground 4km rail bridge will transform the economic potential of the already prosperous region.
The capacity of the link is for 10,000 per hour in each direction and the four carriages will carry passengers at a top speed of nearly 50mph.
At peak times, the expectation is that there will be an available train every 3.6 minutes, according to the manafacturer MRT.
In January of this year, Singapore’s Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat remarked on the significance of the new line and its potential to revolutionise travel between the two states. He said that as the “third land connection, the RTS Link will make travel between our two countries more convenient, and benefit both Singaporeans and Malaysians.”
He added: “We have been making good progress on the RTS Link, thanks to the excellent teamwork by the project and engineering teams from both countries. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and other challenges, they have soldiered on and worked well together, and today’s milestone is a testament to their efforts.
“This project is much more than building bridges – it is about building stronger ties between the people of Singapore and the people of Malaysia.
“It is also about building a better future for both countries, strengthening our longstanding friendship and creating more win-win opportunities for our businesses and citizens in areas of common interest and mutual benefit.”