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There’s already a great deal of movement between the two cities. Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, buses would run 24 hours a day and there were more than 30,000 flights between the two conurbations each year, more than any other two cities on Earth. <\/p>\n
The distance for the planned new line was in the right range (typically under 800km) for it to compete with air travel. The current slow train from the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru just across the water from Singapore takes six hours or longer. The bus trip takes as long. <\/p>\n
Analysis suggested that the new rail link would contribute $5.2bn in economic growth to Malaysia and Singapore, and create 111,000 jobs by 2060, according to the Malaysian government.<\/p>\n
But Mahathir Mohamad, who was the country’s prime minister until March 2020, was deeply sceptical of those figures. In 2018, he told the Financial Times that the price tag would be $28bn without earning the country “a single cent”. <\/p>\n
The Malaysian government ultimately thought the project was so expensive that it was preferable for Malaysia to pay compensation to Singapore for pulling out, as stipulated under the two countries\u2019 agreement. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n