Lynn Kan Business Times 17 Nov 11;
SINGAPORE and Malaysia have opened up a tender to appoint an architectural and engineering consultant for the Rapid Transit System (RTS) that will link Singapore with Johor Baru.
The consultant will evaluate the technical aspects of the RTS to allow it to be run as a convenient and cost-effective system, integrated with transport services on both sides.
Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Malaysia's Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (Land Public Transport Commission) will launch the tender tomorrow.
The call will close in early 2012 and will be followed by the tender for the RTS civil engineering contract.
Singapore and Malaysia agreed on the RTS as part of a landmark land swap deal concluded in September last year that laid to rest a decades-long issue.
Singapore received six Marina South and Ophir-Rochor land parcels, which the Malayan Railway had owned for about 20 years.
In exchange, Malaysia got land sites in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji, Woodlands and Bukit Timah.
The RTS link is expected to be ready in 2018.
Terminal stations on the RTS will be at JB Sentral, Johor Baru and on the Singapore side, near Republic Polytechnic.
There are plans to integrate RTS with Singapore's Thomson Line at its northernmost terminal station.
Also, the RTS link will have co-located customs, immigration and quarantine facilities in Singapore and Johor Baru so that commuters can clear immigration at a single location for travel in either direction.
Joint tender call for Johor-Singapore rail on Friday
Channel NewsAsia 16 Nov 11;
SINGAPORE: The Malaysia-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia has appointed Malaysia's Land Public Transport Commission (Malaysia Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat ) and Singapore Land Transport Authority to jointly call for the tender for Architectural and Engineering Consultancy services to develop possible alignments and proposals for the Rapid Transit System Link.
Last year, the committee agreed to carry out a joint engineering study to determine the technical parameters for the Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link.
The tender will be called on 18 November 2011 in both Singapore and Malaysia.
In May 2010, the prime ministers of Singapore and Malaysia agreed to jointly develop the RTS Link to enhance connectivity between Iskandar Malaysia in Johor and Singapore.
The terminating stations will be at JB Sentral on the Johor side and Republic Polytechnic on the Singapore side.
- CNA/ck
