Malaysia scraps Singapore bullet train
posted 3:03 am Wed April 23, 2008 - KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
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Malaysia has scrapped plans for a multi-billion-dollar high-speed bullet train connecting Kuala Lumpur and Singapore because of high costs, a government official said Wednesday.An Economic Planning Unit spokeswoman confirmed a report in The Star that the government is no longer considering the project. She declined to be named, citing protocol. "The government will not go ahead with the project because the financial model submitted involves a significant cost to be borne by the government," said Sulaiman Mahbob, director general of the Economic Planning Unit, according to The Star.
He declined to elaborate, the English-language daily said.
The $2.5 billion bullet train would have been able to travel the 325-kilometer (200-mile) distance between Malaysia's biggest city, Kuala Lumpur, and neighboring Singapore in 90 minutes.
Malaysian conglomerate YTL Corp. had proposed the project as an alternative to the seven-hour train service of state railway company KTM Berhad.
Flights between the two cities are 45 minutes; buses take about five hours on the North-South Expressway that runs the length of the country. Singapore is located near the tip of the Malaysian peninsula, separated by a narrow strip of sea.
He declined to elaborate, the English-language daily said.
The $2.5 billion bullet train would have been able to travel the 325-kilometer (200-mile) distance between Malaysia's biggest city, Kuala Lumpur, and neighboring Singapore in 90 minutes.Malaysian conglomerate YTL Corp. had proposed the project as an alternative to the seven-hour train service of state railway company KTM Berhad.
Flights between the two cities are 45 minutes; buses take about five hours on the North-South Expressway that runs the length of the country. Singapore is located near the tip of the Malaysian peninsula, separated by a narrow strip of sea.
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