Turner & Townsend, the independent UK programme manager, has won a cost consultancy role on the upcoming Singapore-to-Kuala Lumpur high speed rail project.
The firm will work as a subconsultant to accountant KPMG, for whom it will develop a cost model to be used for economic assessments of the line.Â
T&T has previously worked on other large scale rail schemes, including Crossrail in London, a tram system in Edinburgh, Qatar Rail and the Northwest Rail Link in Australia.
The proposed Singapore route will run for 350km and cut travel time between the two cities to 90 minutes. It is due to be completed by 2020.
The project is intended to relieve the chronic congestion at the causeway that presently connects Singapore and Malaysia. According to analysis by Malaysia’s Land Public Transport Commission, demand on the causeway exceeds capacity by 33%, and traffic will continue to grow at a rate comparable to GDP growth of Malaysia and Singapore, at an average 3-5%.Â
Mohd Nur Kamal, chief executive of Malaysia’s Land Public Transport Commission, said this week that tickets would be priced at less than $60 for a one-way ticket. "We foresee a much lower average price to make the project feasible," he told the New Straits Times.
Duncan Stone, regional managing director of Turner & Townsend, said: "This game-changing project is another feather in our cap in the rail sector.
"In developing a robust cost model we mobilised the knowledge and skills of our global team of experts, who between them have worked on some of the most challenging high speed rail projects across the world.Â
"The High Speed Rail link will provide efficient transport for the people of Singapore and Malaysia, significantly contributing to the economic growth of both countries."
