China's national rail operator is putting together the country's largest railway team ever ahead of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) bid.

According to Beijing-based Caixin magazine, the China Railway Corporation-led (CRC) consortium will include China Railway Group Ltd, China Railway Construction Cooperation, China Communication Construction, CRRC Corporation Ltd, China Railway Signal & Communication Corporation Ltd, China Investment Cooperation and The Export-Import Bank of China.

The report said the consortium may eventually include other firms.

For now, the report said the consortium appear to have all the necessary components - designers, builders, rolling stock providers and financiers, among others - for the job.

CRC officials told Caixin, a financial news website, that firms from Japan, South Korea, France and Germany were among those bidding for the job.

Bids must be submitted by mid-2018 and the contract would be awarded by the year-end.

The 350km HSR project was intended to cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to 90 minutes and stimulate the economy of several localities along the route.

The project is a joint-venture between Singapore and Malaysia.