Thailand And Malaysia To Study Kl Bangkok Hsr Says Pm

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The relevant government agencies have been instructed to carry out feasibility studies immediately on the proposed KL-Bangkok HSR project. (Bernama pic)GEORGE TOWN: Malaysia and Thailand will study whether a Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok High-Speed Rail (HSR) link is feasible.
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said this was among the issues he discussed with his counterpart, Prayuth Chan-o-cha, on his first official visit to Thailand.
“We have agreed for both countries to carry out feasibility studies immediately and have asked the relevant government agencies to act on them,” he said at a virtual press conference that was held in Bangkok this morning.
On Jan 1, 2021, the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR project was cancelled by the former Muhyiddin Yassin administration. Malaysia also had to pay Singapore RM320 million in compensation as part of its obligations under the bilateral agreement.
Putrajaya had then suggested linking Kuala Lumpur and Iskandar Puteri in Johor and had embarked on a study on the proposal last year.
Transport experts had warned that the KL-Johor HSR project would be futile as there were cheaper alternatives available. They instead encouraged the government to revive the KL-Singapore alignment as earlier planned.
Former prime minister Najib Razak was previously reported to have 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 idea to develop the HSR link from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok was first proposed by Muhyiddin in the Dewan Rakyat last September. - FMT

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