Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Wednesday (Feb 8) that it has appointed AECOM Singapore to conduct the engineering study for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high speed rail project, which is going to cut down the travel time between the two cities to 90 minutes.
The tender for the 350km-long rail project which has a total of eight stations was awarded at a price of S$24.6 million, according to LTA documents available on its website.
Five other firms participated in the tender, which was called last August. LTA said AECOM has won the tender after a "highly competitive bidding."
The estimated delivery date for the contract is Oct 1, 2018, according to Government procurement portal GeBiz.
It has also appointed specialist consultants to oversee different parts of the study. Refer the table below for details about the specialists and their scope.
"They bring extensive experience in HSR projects internationally, including in the planning and design of the Beijing South HSR Station in China, the High Speed 2 railway in the United Kingdom, and the West Kowloon Terminus for the Express Rail Link in Hong Kong."
The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR, a combined project by Malaysian and Singapore governments is expected to be completed by 31 December 2026.
It was in February 2013 both the countries together announced the project when Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak visited Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Singapore.
Like LTA in Singapore, MyHSR Corporation Sdn Bhd is the firm Malaysia has appointed to execute its part of the project.
The Singapore arm of the US-based AECOM has a work history with Singapore and is now carrying out an engineering consultancy study for the Rapid Transit System Link between Singapore and Johor Bahru.
It has worked with the LTA to design the Circle Line, Downtown Line, Thomson-East Coast Line, and the Tuas West Extension, in the island city.
The LTA said in a press release last month that it will open Tuas Viaduct, a 4.8km road-rail viaduct built as part of the Tuas West Extension project, on Feb 18.
The viaduct will provide an alternate route to Tuas South by allowing motorists to by-pass the at-grade Pioneer Road. There will be five ramps (two up-ramps and three down-ramps) along the viaduct.
However, works on the four MRT stations of the Tuas West Extension – Gul Circle, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West Road and Tuas Link, have not yet been completed. LTA said it expects to open the stations for passenger service in the second quarter of 2017.
