SNCF Optimistic Timeline Of HSR Project Will Be Met

From Nur Syuhada Shamsuddin PARIS, July 7 (Bernama) -- French national railway company, SNCF Group, is optimistic the timeline of the 300-kilometre high-speed rail (HSR) project linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore will be met. Its Senior Vice-President Business Development for India, South Asia and South-East Asia, Philippe Lorand, said there was a good level of understanding of the scheme and of the challenging decisions to be taken. "So I am really optimistic about the timing," he told Bernama at the Gare de Lyon railway station here Tuesday. SNCF Group, which has five major units, SNCF Logistics, SNCF Keolis, SNCF Arep, SNCF Voyages and SNCF Systra, is involved in logistics, mass transit, long distance passenger rail and rail engineering and consultancy. SNCF Systra, whose core business is design and optimising urban transport systems, is involved in the HSR project. It is responsible for an overall high-speed train design specifications, track, signalling, power supply and catenary, telecommunications, operation control centre, maintenance of infrastructure, route and siting of stations, estimates of investment and operating costs. He said any imbalanced interests or concerns of both Singapore and Malaysia had to be addressed. "It's a challenge because it requires lots of communication to ensure both parties share the same views. "This will need time. I think the good point is that both parties are willing as they realised and support this project. So having the same goals is important," he said. The HSR project, which was proposed in 2013, is expected to cut travelling time between KL Singapore to 90 minutes compared with five hours by road, seven hours by train and an hour by aeroplane now. Malaysia and Singapore are finalising the feasibility study on the project, which is estimated to cost US$10.49 billion (RM40 billion). Besides France, other countries that have expressed interest in the project are China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Britain and Spain. Meanwhile, Lorand said rail transportation was considered a success when the trains were full at peak hours and had many commuters every time. He said this meant that people were comfortable to travel in trains compared to other modes of transportation. "For us, as an European, the meaning of successful is when the trains are full not only during peak hours but also on a continuous basis," he said. --BERNAMA