SINGAPORE: The Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link is now expected to begin passenger services in February 2027, after system tests and trial runs are completed by the end of this year.
The latest delay adds another chapter to a cross-border rail project first announced more than 16 years ago.
The project has undergone several changes and delays, including a lengthy suspension from April 2019 while Malaysia reviewed the project. When the RTS Link project formally resumed in July 2020, the targeted opening was pushed from the end of 2024 to the end of 2026.
Here’s how the journey of the RTS Link has transpired so far.
2010 to 2016: Idea and an agreed route
The start of the journey began in May 2010 when Singapore and Malaysia announced plans at the annual Leaders‘ Retreat for a rapid transit system connecting Singapore and Johor Bahru, with a target operational date of 2018.
Then-prime ministers Lee Hsien Loong and Najib Razak said in a joint statement then that for the convenience of commuters, the RTS Link would have a single co-located customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) facility in Singapore.
This would evolve into two co-located CIQ facilities – one in Singapore and one in Johor Bahru – as announced in 2011.
In a press release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that this was done so that commuters need to clear immigration only once for each way of travel.
It was also announced that the terminating stations of the RTS Link would be in the vicinity of JB Sentral on the Malaysia side and in the vicinity of Republic Polytechnic on Singapore’s side.
In its 2013 master plan, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) included plans for the RTS Link to be integrated with the Thomson Line, which would eventually be developed and renamed as the Thomson-East Coast Line.
LTA’s master plan also said that the first phase of a joint engineering study to determine the technical parameters for the RTS Link was completed.
In 2015, Mr Lee announced during the Singapore-Malaysia Leaders‘ Retreat that Woodlands North on the Thomson-East Coast Line would be the RTS Link terminus on Singapore’s side.
Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru was confirmed as the terminus in Malaysia at the following year’s Leaders‘ Retreat.