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Saturday, March 05, 2022

KL-Bangkok HSR not a good idea, says expert



KL-Bangkok HSR not a good idea, says expert


A transport consultant says linking Kuala Lumpur to Singapore via HSR would make better economic sense. (Bernama pic)


GEORGE TOWN: The proposed Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok High-Speed Rail (HSR) project is a bad idea, says a transport expert.

Goh Bok Yen said the government should first build the HSR to Singapore and then build the second leg of the service to Bangkok.


He said linking up with Singapore would make better economic sense as it would tap into the island republic’s international market and will have guaranteed spillover effects in Malaysia.

“I don’t see any reason for us to link up to Bangkok as the core economic activities with Thailand are not with the capital city, but at the border towns in the north.

“Why would one want to travel 1,500km to Bangkok. What would be the purpose? Why bother going for the long stretch to Bangkok when the vital stretch to Singapore is incomplete?” he told FMT.

Goh, who has been a transport consultant for 30 years, said the government should be “sensible” and complete the KL-Singapore stretch before expanding it to Bangkok.

Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah, however, said the KL-Bangkok HSR was an excellent idea as it was long enough to justify savings in travel time.

He said what was important now was to ensure that no interested parties took part in any feasibility study so that a true picture could be gained in the interest of Thais and Malaysians.

Farhan, a professor in transport engineering, said the study should cover the post-pandemic era.

He said the number of stations between both cities should also be limited too, or it would defeat the travel time savings intended by the HSR.

Farhan said the project should be packaged with local rail networks to compel cities wanting HSR stations in their territory to first improve public transport.

“The feasibility study should cover a link to Singapore, too. That way, we can compare which is best.”

The government cancelled the KL-Singapore HSR project last year. Muhyiddin Yassin, who was then prime minister, directed the government to pay Singapore RM320 million in compensation.

The government had then suggested linking Kuala Lumpur and Iskandar Puteri in Johor instead and embarked on a study last year.

Transport experts warned that the KL-Johor HSR project would be futile because cheaper alternatives were available. They instead encouraged the government to revive the KL-Singapore alignment as earlier planned.

Former prime minister Najib Razak had said that the cost of the proposed KL-Johor line was between RM63 billion and RM65 billion, which was not much different from the original RM60 billion to RM68 billion estimated for the KL-Singapore route.

The HSR was expected to cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to just 90 minutes.

The idea to develop the HSR link from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok was first proposed by Muhyiddin in the Dewan Rakyat last September.

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