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Malaysia's Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) and Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) have jointly launched a request for information (RFI) from interested parties to develop the Kuala Lumpur - Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project.

In a joint statement, Malaysian Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dato' Sri Abdul Wahid Omar and Singapore Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport Mr Khaw Boon Wan said:

"This market sounding exercise marks a major milestone in our HSR journey. It is important for us to be properly informed of the industry views. We want to use this exercise to gauge market interest in the project and solicit views on different models and approaches. The feedback is crucial in helping us refine and validate our options, which will in turn help ensure a successful tender process subsequently."

The 400 km HSR link is seen as a strategic development in bilateral relations that will improve the connectivity between Malaysia and Singapore. With terminus stations in Kuala Lumpur's Bandar Malaysia and Singapore's Jurong East, the HSR link aims to cut the travel time between the two cities to 90 minutes. The project will request the construction of a brand-new line with dedicated tracks, which will allow trains to travel at least 550 km/h.

The total project investment is estimated at MYR40 billion (US$9.62 billion).

The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR link was first announced by Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Malaysia-Singapore Leaders' Retreat in February 2013.

According to SPAD, construction works are expected to begin by 2017 and the project is expected to be operational by 2022.

The organizations are looking to engage parties interested in the HSR project in the areas of HSR design, funding, construction, operations & maintenance. The deadline to submit interest is 16 October 2015 by sending an e-mail to both HSR_RFI@spad.gov.my and HSR_RFI@lta.gov.sg.

Interested parties should visit SPAD's website (www.spad.gov.my) or LTA's website (www.lta.gov.sg/hsr) for more information.

We have recently reported on several rail PPP projects globally:

• Dubai's Route 2020 metro project - United Arab Emirates
• California HSR Initial Operating Segment (IOS) - South & (IOS) - North - USA
• Bogota South Corridor LTR (Sabana - Soacha) - Colombia
• Bangkok's MRT Pink Line elevated train & MRT Yellow Line elevated train - Thailand
• Operation of Blue Line extension PPP project - Thailand
• Third tram line project along Diagonal in Barcelona - Spain