SINGAPORE: The installation of rail systems for the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link is slated to begin from end-2024 as scheduled, with good progress being made on both sides of the Johor Strait.
This next phase of work will include laying the tracks, as well as installing the signalling, communications and traction power systems, said Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA), Malaysia’s Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRT Corp), and RTS Operations (RTSO).
RTSO is a joint venture formed in 2020 between Singapore rail operator SMRT and Malaysian public transport firm Prasarana to run the 4km cross-border rail shuttle service.
More than 80 per cent of the civil infrastructure works have been completed on the Singapore side of the project, and civil infrastructure works in Malaysia have reached 93 per cent completion, the parties said in a joint statement on Nov 29.
With the marine and land viaducts almost finished, LTA will be ready to progressively grant RTSO access to the civil infrastructures within Singapore from end-2024.
The remaining works in Singapore, such as architectural works, roadworks and the installation of key systems such as the immigration gates, will be done in tandem with the rest of the structural works for the rail link.
Additionally, construction work to connect the RTS Link to Woodlands North station on the Thomson-East Coast MRT Line, at Basement 1 of the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) building in Woodlands North, will begin in 2025. - The Straits Times/ANN