JB-S'pore RTS Link systems 50% complete; cross-border tracks to be ready by July

Work to get the rail systems of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link up and running has reached the halfway mark, as the cross-border rail project moves closer to completion.

- Kok Yufeng

Since September 2024, RTS Operations (RTSO), the company appointed to run the light rail line, has been installing tracks in and around the RTS Link depot in Wadi Hana in Johor Bahru, with these works now about 65 per cent done.

Tracks are also being installed on the viaducts around Bukit Chagar station - the Malaysian terminus of the two-station, 4km rail link.

RTSO said on Feb 26 that the trackwork will extend towards Woodlands North station in Singapore and be completed by July.

Other system works will be done in phases, added RTSO, a Singapore-incorporated joint venture between Singapore rail operator SMRT and Malaysian public transport firm Prasarana.

For instance, the installation of the traction power, signalling and communications systems for the RTS Link will start from March. Traction power refers to the electricity that powers trains.

At a media briefing held at the company's new corporate office in Johor Bahru, RTSO project director Zahrin Abdul Gani said the rail system works, which include testing and integration, are expected to peak over the coming months and hit a "crescendo" around the third quarter of 2026.

After that, trial operations will be carried out, with the aim of starting passenger service by the end of 2026, as scheduled.