Malaysia and Singapore have agreed on the alignment of the high-speed rail connecting Kuala Lumpur and the republic, amid concerns that China Railway will have an upper hand in bidding for the project after buying stakes in Bandar Malaysia.
The high-speed rail will be between Bandar Malaysia township project owned by 1MDB in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
1MDB agreed to sell 60 percent stakes of the project to China Railway Engineering Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd and Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Bhd last week.
China Railway last month won the Gemas-Johor Baru double-tracking rail project.
In an interview with The Edge , MyHSR Corp chief executive officer Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal said the cost of the project is yet to be determined.
China Railway estimated it to be RM70 billion, but Mohd Nor Ismal said this is "speculation".
The figure far exceeds an estimation of RM8 billion by YTL and Siemens AG in 2007.
According to MyHSR’s website, the 330kph high-speed rail will offer two types of services – express service taking passengers from Bandar Malaysia to Singapore in 90 minutes, and a transit service.
The transit service will stop at Seremban, Malacca, Muar, Batu Pahat and Nusajaya, before Singapore and will take about two hours.
It was earlier reported that a return ticket would cost less than RM400.
MyHSR say that high-speed rail will be 2.5 hours door-to-door, while flying to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur would take about four hours door-to-door, including time spent travelling to the airport.
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