High Speed Rail Postponed Till 2020, M’sia Spared RM500 Mil Penalty

High Speed Rail (HSR) Project Deferred For 2 Years

Malaysia’s Economic Affairs Minister, Mohamed Azmin Ali announced today (3 Sep) that the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur High Speed Rail (HSR) has been postponed.

While he did not make known the duration of the deferment, he said that there will be no compensation involved.

The minister also announced that an official agreement will be signed soon in Kuala Lumpur (KL).

Earlier in the day, business publication The Edge published that the HSR project will be postponed till 2020.

HSR project at risk

The HSR project has been a sticking point since the Pakatan Harapan election victory in May.

Several days after taking office as Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir announced that his government would reconsider large scale Malaysian projects in an attempt to lower state debt.

Projects at risk include the HSR project with Singapore and other large infrastructure projects with China.

The fate of the HSR project has been ambiguous since then, largely due to the inconsistent accounts from Malaysian leaders.

Important meeting between leaders

Last Thursday, Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan announced on Facebook that he met Minister for Economic Affairs Azmin to discuss ways to further the Singapore-Malaysia relationship.

Mr Khaw also said in the same post that a joint decision regarding the HSR will be made soon.

His Malaysian counterpart tweeted later in the day that the two countries are inching closer to a “win-win” deal on the HSR.

Not cancelled, for now

Unlike previous reports which made it seem like the HSR project was off for good, we think this is still a better outcome.

Looks like we can still look forward to an express train to KL every 30 minutes.

We’ll just have to buckle down and wait another 2 more years for Malaysia to officially come onboard.

Featured image from Twitter.