High Speed rail from Sin to KL is a plot for Najib to win votes !

[Kohliantye]

Rather a safety issue than security issue.
I think last accident was 1-2 year ago and they put the blame on some small fry.

Sad state of affairs.

Very common in totalitarian regimes.

Dare do this in a truly First World nation............

 

[LeMans2011]

Najib: Oei Ah Loong! We same same in deep shit, how about we abang adek help each other? Your papa so clever got any ideas for me to hang on to my PM seat bo?

Ah Loong: Shit, we really same boat. Your wife blew up Atlantuya, my wife blew up the whole Singapore national reserve. *pick up phone call daddy*

After just one minute Ah Loong's face lit up.

Ah Loong: You really have to thank me. My old man says, just make some big news, like the one we did on covering Singapore with MRT lines like spider web by the year 2030... ok i panchance you since you quite stupid: just announce there'll be Shinkansen linking Orchard to Sungei Wang, swee boh?

Najib: Terima kaseh banyak banyak... this is really good for news headlines. If by any chance we carry out this project, i will make Saw Phaik Hwa the CEO.

 

[mesmerised]

This is ploy by desperate men to win votes. Will the project materialize? Only time can tell. Malaysia is well known for abandoning projects halfway. A drive through Malaysian roads is testimony of this. Everywhere you can see derelict skeletons of buildings that had been abandoned for various reasons.

Mahathir had grand visions. The Multimedia Super Corridor, for one, is a multi-biillon ringgit failure. Next was Mahathir's crooked bridge to replace the historic Causeway that links Malaysia with Singapore. This too ended up in vapor with those who had vested interests suing each other. (This matter had been quietly hushed up.)

Now, Najib has come up with the super idea of starting a high speed railway connection between Singapore and Malaysia? Indeed such ideas were thrown up when the old KTM trains were running between the two countries. There were even proposals to run Singapore's MRT into JB. However, all such thoughts were not given serious attention. And now, hey presto, the two PMs are in serious discussion. Reasons given range from improved travel, more and faster business and others. Could be. The unannounced reasons are plunging political fortunes of both leaders. They hope to reverse their declining popularity at home. While for LHL there is ample time, say about 3 years, Najib has only a few weeks left before he calls for GE. Hence, Najib has to act real fast.

How will the Malaysian electorate respond? A retired friend of mine who travels to JB frequently to meet his old kakis, shared with me that people there are asking what is the urgency for the Singapore-KL link, when there is a real need for this service between Penang and KL as the latter's current KTM services are below par.

Malaysian govt already in discussion with Thais to build high speed train from KL to Bangkok.

I won't be surprised that another plan to link BKK to Myanmar may also be in the works .

Transnational railway systems , although dicey, and likely to lose money from the operational side, has tremendous spin offs , esp with multiplier impact of cash injected into economy and ancillary developments around key station platforms .

Penangites can wait long long for bullet train to reach them.