Kuala Lumpur – Singapore high-speed railway is one of the big infrastructure projects in South-East Asia, a project which increases significantly connectivity in the region, while contributing to traffic decongestion. Designed for speeds of 350 km/h, the railway will reduce transport time between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur from over 5 hours, at present, to 90 minutes. Necessary investments amount to USD 15 billion and trigger the interest of domestic and international companies. 165 organisations have attended an industry briefing organized for this project. The majority of these organisations has been represented by European companies. Moreover, several contracts were awarded this year for the elaboration of the documents necessary to the implementation of the rail project.
The high-speed rail project between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Singapore is progressing, with a series of initiatives and measures being carried out this year resulting in partnerships being concluded for project implementation. The project was announced in 2013 and, after a series of negotiations and discussions, at the end of 2016, the two governments signed the bilateral agreement that sets the technical elements, the commercial model, the customs system, as well as the safety and regulation problems. MyHSR Corp company was established to develop the railway and to deal with project implementation. The railway is expected to be commissioned in 2026. With an estimated value of USD 16 billion, the project includes the construction of a 330-km double railway with 8 stations, of which 7 built in Malaysia, and the end station, Jurong East, in Singapore. This spring, MyHSR Corp awarded six Reference Design Consultant (RDC) contracts for civil engineering infrastructure and the seven stations in Malaysia. The six contracts were signed with Systra, Jacobs Engineering Services, Ranhill Consulting, HSS Integrated and AECOM Perunding. The general objective of the contracts includes Bandar Malaysia and Iskandar Puteri international stations, the five national stations, Putrajaya, Seremban, Melaka, Muar and Batu Paha and civil works alignment in Bandar Station (Malaysia) to the border between the two countries. The contract with HSS Integrated is worth EUR 3.8 billion and consists in the elaboration of documents for the infrastructure necessary at the border between Malacca and Johor, to Iskandar Puteri station. Systra and Meinhardt have been selected for two contracts that include the delivery of multi-disciplinary services and necessary expertise for RDC contracts. The first RDC contract includes reference design works for two international stations (Bandar, in Kuala Lumpur, and Iskandar Puteri, in the south of the Malaysian alignment. The second RDC covers reference design works for the first 38 km from Bandar Station to the border between Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. “The RDC contracts tender was another step forward as we enter into the next phase of shaping the project. The appointed consultants carry the responsibility of designing what the stations will look like and finalising the civil infrastructure, such as the HSR bridges and tunnels. As the civil infrastructure will traverse approximately 335 km, we have divided up the work into six packages, attracting specialist consultants for the specific work to be completed. I am very happy that the appointed consultants comprise of international and domestic parties who are very reputable and experienced,” Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal, CEO of MyHSR said. The governments of Malaysia and Singapore have named MyHSR and Land Transport Authority of Singapore as infrastructure companies (InfraCos) for the design, construction, financing and maintenance of civil engineering and the operation of stations, each of their territory. OpCos will operate express services on Kuala Lumpur – Singapore railway, as well as shuttle services at the border, between Iskandar Puteri and Singapore. In order to attract more investors, MyHSR and Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) organised in July an Industry Briefing with the participation of 400 representatives of 165 local and international entities representing the rolling stock sector and systems, operators, consultants, investors and construction companies. According to LTA, most organisations (67) of the 165 that attended the Industry Briefing were from Europe, followed by Malaysia (29), Singapore (25), Asia (21), North America (17) and Australia (6). “The Kuala Lumpur – Singapore HSR is a large transport infrastructure project for both countries. As such, it is essential that we explore all opportunities for innovation to ensure that the project is implemented in the most efficient manner. The project will be implemented in phases and this current phase focuses on the AssetsCo tender. Other tenders such as the civil and Operating Company (OpCo) tenders will be developed according to the project timeline and announcements will be made in due course,” MyHSR CEO Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal said.
The briefing aimed to inform participants on the progress with the project including tendering parameters, procurement processes and harmonisation of necessary regulations for Assets Company (AssetsCo) tender. AssetsCo will be a private company in charge with the design, construction, maintenance and financing of rolling stock, but also of rail assets (construction works, energy, signalling and communications works). Also, AssetsCo will develop and implement a Network Code to coordinate the network capacity needed for operation and maintenance. During the briefing, the authorities also announced that a tender for AssetsCo establishment would be launched by the end of the year. “We are pleased with the strong interest from companies all over the world for the Industry Briefing. We would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm both Governments’ strong commitment to make this project a success. Following the Industry Briefing, we will be calling the AssetsCo tender by the end of this year, and we look forward to receiving quality bids from various consortia,” LTA Chief Executive Ngien Hoon Ping said. The tender for AssetsCo will prioritise safety and security, availability and reliability, technological quality, the flexibility of operations and the customer centric design. In order to participate in the high-speed rail project, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore reunited six companies under a partnership. These companies are Clifford Capital Pte. Ltd., DBS, Sembcorp Design & Construction, SMRT International Pte Ltd, Surbana Jurong Private Limited and Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited (ST Electronics). “The partnership leverages unique strengths of each company, enabling them to expand into the high-speed rail segment. Together, their solutions cover the entire value chain of financing, design, construction, system integration, operations and maintenance. The companies plan to partner international players to jointly participate in the KL-SG HSR,” the companies said.
by Pamela Luica
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