Plans for new passenger rail service in JB to handle footfall from RTS Link

Commuter stops will be added along the Kempas Baru to Pasir Gudang line by 2026

- Lu Wei Hoong

PASIR GUDANG, Johor - Malaysia's state railway firm is set to start a new passenger service line that will help disperse the flood of commuter traffic expected from the soon-to-be-completed Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link.

With the RTS scheduled to launch in December 2026, Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) said it will expand its 40km Kempas Baru-to-Pasir Gudang (KBPG) line that currently serves only freight operations to include passenger services by 2026. This will start with the establishment of two passenger stations.

"This will be the starting point for the Komuter Selatan (Southern Commuter train service), aligned with the completion of the RTS to help disperse passengers along the north-south travel corridor," KTM chief executive officer Mohd Rani Hisham Samsudin told The Sunday Times on July 22.

Once up, the cross-border RTS project, which can ferry an expected peak capacity of up to 10,000 passengers per hour per direction between Singapore's Woodlands North MRT station and Bukit Chagar station in Johor Bahru, will lead to a significant increase in footfall in the area.

And while an earlier announcement said that a driverless tram-bus network, also known as an elevated autonomous rapid transit (ART) system, would be used to disperse commuter traffic in the Bukit Chagar area, there is no confirmation on its expected date.