By the 2030s, travel time between KL and S’pore is reduced to 47 minutes – Wired PR Lifestyle Story

Note: The following opinion article expresses the personal opinions of the author.

This can be amazing with some of my first opinions or some of the ones you know about my last article High Speed ​​Rail (HSR) The link between Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Singapore, but here it is:

Singapore and Malaysia should not build HSR. Never.

Why a sudden setback? Have I changed my mind and become skeptical about trains? By no means.

The very fast land transport link between KL and Singapore is absolutely important for both countries, and is a gap for anyone who reads a map and understands the basic economy.

No, both countries would have to move with time and put aside their love for the Victorian-era iron rail and replace it with a much better one, which would prove its economic viability in just six to seven years.

To make it even more attractive, Singapore and Malaysia are the best positioned technology to get the most out of every country in the world: magnetic levitation or maglev.

It will only take 47 minutes

Before making fun of him, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “Yes, yes, we’ve heard it before, but no one has done it yet!” with a thought, please consider the following:

Japan is currently building the world’s first commercial maglev line, spanning about 290 kilometers between Tokyo and Nagoya (compared to the distance between KL and SG), and will be extended to Osaka in recent years.

This first stage will start in 2027 (although a delay can be expected) – six years from now – reducing the travel time by about 300 km … just 40 minutes.

In fact, the alternative alignments considered by the Japanese government, 350 km long (the route between Bandar Malaysia and East Jurong, in fact), only had to be done. 47 minutes. This is half of what the abandoned HSR ordered.

And with just a few years to go before we know how well known and economically viable this long-distance maglev line is, it makes much more sense to wait and see how it works for Japan.

Given the delays and disagreements between Malaysia and Singapore, the original project would still need to be completed by the 2030s. By then, it could very well have come out that both countries are behind the times.

For the first time, maglev trains are no longer a fantasy, but a reality spread for common use in the hometown of the original bullet train.

And let’s not forget that …

Malaysia is better than Japan …

… for maglev trains.

It is difficult to imagine more difficult conditions for any way to travel by land than Japan has to deal with: a very mountainous land; continuous and severe seismic and volcanic activity; extreme seasonal weather conditions (typhoons in the fall, many sites with heavy snowfall in the winter).

By comparison, the Malaysian peninsula is located in an area of ​​environmental tranquility, as southern Indonesia is protected from earthquakes and typhoons near the equator, where such devastating storms are almost impossible.

Because a maglev train reaching a speed of 500 km / h had to go in as straight a line as possible, the Japanese were forced to put 90 per cent of the route between Tokyo and Nagoya into underground tunnels; that has increased tremendously. both project time and cost.

It is not, however, something that Malaysia and Singapore need to worry about.

Secondly, as I mentioned my last article, unlike in other countries (except the poorest), neither Singapore nor Malaysia has a large heritage infrastructure that would be an obstacle. The construction of the new line would lead to the end of the long-distance narrow-gauge KTM along the north-south axis.

Again, this leads us to the demographic conditions in Malaysia, which are also very favorable, as the majority of the country’s population would be well equipped with a single high-speed line.

Since there is no need to invest in additional maglev connections on the east-west axis, the technology makes much more economic sense, as it achieves more, at a cost limited by conditions.

The standard base gauge ECRL would provide sufficient connectivity for the less populated east coast, feeding the maglev backbone.

Countries with a more dispersed population have occasionally considered maglev to address the cost that this would entail and the infrastructure problems that would result.

The need to put backward incompatible routes in different directions increases the cost of serving multiple smaller urban areas and reduces the net benefit of ultra-high-speed technology (which requires sufficient distances to achieve optimal time-saving peaks for operating speed peaks).

This is not the case as both KL and Singapore are large enough to support this line, and the number of intermediate stations would be small enough to maintain the service at its full technological capability (Japanese Chuo Shinkansen has four stations planned between Tokyo and Nagoya, KL-SG high speed while the train had six, a greater distance of 60 km).

How expensive would it be?

Fortunately, thanks to Japan we know what to expect.

With tunnel work, high labor costs, and the need to cut down large, crowded areas of Tokyo, the cost of connecting to Nagoya was revised early in the year. 7 trillion yen, or $ 62 billion.

This is equivalent to S $ 83 billion or RM 258 billion.

According to the original estimates, we also know that the cost of HSR expected by the Barisan Nasional government in 2018 was around RMB 72 billion; then the Mahathir administration reviewed it for more than RM 100 billion.

RM258 billion versus RM100 billion (at the highest estimate) seems to be a big difference. But, once again, we need to consider the conditions in Japan. Having to run in line tunnels at 90 percent of the distance doubles or more the cost.

With caution, it seems that we could estimate about RM130 billion for the maglev and RM100 billion for the traditional HSR – a new technology that has halved travel times. This certainly makes the comparison of magnetic levitation much more beneficial.

Why close yourself to something that has reached its limit, can you be among the first to take the cutting edge innovations after its creators?

Making a new metropolis

The Klang Valley and Singapore are home to 14 million people. Imagine if it took less time to get to KL in Singapore than crossing the MRT.

How much would that change the way people in both cities live? How much would it help businesses and tourism? How much would it cost, blurring the boundaries between the two countries?

This is not a fantasy, at least not anymore. It has been possible and accessible for over a decade.

By 2030, we will be able to measure the benefits and costs of technology based on Japanese experiences. If the assessment is positive — and should be — what would really hinder it from spreading here, not just political will?

Every crisis is an opportunity in disguise. It may well come out that the removal of Muhyiddin Yassin’s government from the HSR project was a blessing, allowing both countries to jump ahead of everyone else in the very near future.

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Featured Image Credit: IHRA (International High Speed ​​Train Association)