Pact signing set for high-speed railway project 

The signing was delayed by a week after Singapore requested time to brief the republic’s president. Officials said that after Singapore asked for a postponement, several dates were suggested and the leaders agreed to meet on Tuesday.
The bilateral agreement comes after the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Putrajaya on July 19 paving the way for more detailed planning and development of the ambitious rail link.
The HSR service is targeted to be up and running by 2026 and will cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to just 90 minutes.
The HSR line will stretch 350 kilometres, with 335km in Malaysia and 15km in Singapore.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last week that both sides had made “very good progress” on the agreement, which will spell out details such as cost sharing and how the project will be built and operated.
Several countries, including China, Japan and South Korea, have shown interest in the project.
During the Malaysian and Singaporean leaders’ sixth annual retreat in Singapore last year, Lee cautioned that because of its massive scale and complexity, many details had to be worked out, such as how the line is going to be designed, who will operate the company, how it will be structured or if it will be multiple companies.
“There are also financial issues to be worked out on where is the funding going to come from, the equity, [and] how is it going to be divided between two parties,” Lee told a press conference.
The HSR line will begin in Bandar Malaysia, an urban development within the city of Kuala Lumpur, and end at Jurong East in Singapore.
It will have six transit stations, in Putrajaya, Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri.