The Johor Bahru – Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link project between Singapore and Malaysia has achieved another significant milestone. The Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) of both countries will grant RTS Operations Pte Ltd (RTSO) access to the RTS Link civil structures progressively by the end of this year, announced Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA), Malaysia’s Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) and RTSO in a joint statement on Friday (29 Nov). With this access, RTSO can commence the installation works for the RTS Link rail systems.
The InfraCos, appointed by their respective governments, are responsible for designing, building and maintaining the RTS Link civil infrastructure. RTSO is a joint venture company formed between Prasarana RTS Sdn Bhd and SMRT RTS Pte Ltd to operate the RTS Link service.
Civil infrastructure progress
On 11 January 2024, then-Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato’ Sri Anwar Ibrahim commemorated the completion of the 17.1-m-long connecting span, which connects the marine viaduct between Singapore and Malaysia. Since then, both InfraCos have made good progress on the civil structures of the RTS Link, including the stations, tunnels, viaducts and depot.
In Singapore, more than four-fifths of the overall civil infrastructure works have been completed to date. The marine and land viaducts are almost complete, and InfraCo Singapore will be ready to progressively grant RTSO access to the civil infrastructures within the country from the end of the year. The remaining works include architectural works, roadworks, installation of electrical & maintenance systems and other key systems such as immigration gates. These works, which will be carried out in tandem with the rest of the structural works for the RTS Link, will require close coordination with all relevant parties from Singapore and Malaysia. In addition, construction works to connect the RTS Link to the existing Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) Woodlands North Station at basement 1 will begin in 2025. When passenger service commences, this will facilitate seamless connectivity from the RTS Link to the Singapore MRT network.
The civil infrastructure works in Malaysia – which encompass the RTS Link Maintenance Depot, Bukit Chagar Station, terrestrial and marine viaducts – have reached approximately 93% completion. InfraCo Malaysia has granted RTSO access to the RTS Link Maintenance Depot beginning 30 September 2024 (earlier than scheduled) for commencement of trackwork installation, and will continue to progressively hand over access to the remaining railway infrastructures from the end of the year. With that, the focus at the start of next year will be on the fitout and facade installation works for the depot, station and ICQ Complex, plus the remaining civil, architectural, mechanical and electrical installations, and roadworks.
RTSO will be ready to commence installation of the RTS Link rail systems from end-2024 onwards. These include laying the tracks for the RTS Link, as well as the signalling, communications, integrated supervisory control, and traction power supply systems.
The railway infrastructure of the RTS Link project is now connected end-to-end from the Wadi Hana Depot in Johor to Woodlands North in Singapore. To commemorate this major milestone, both the Malaysia and Singapore InfraCos have completed the installation of the viaduct aesthetic feature (VAF), an iconic structure situated near the connecting span along the marine viaduct. It depicts the clasping of hands, which symbolises the close partnership and ties between the two countries.
The RTS Link is targeted to commence passenger service by December 2026, connecting Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru to Woodlands North in Singapore. With a peak capacity of up to 10,000 passengers per hour per direction, the 4-km rail line will provide a train journey time of about five minutes between the two stations.
All images: LTA/MRT Corp
