Malaysia has paid Singapore about SGD102.8 million as compensation for the costs the latter incurred during development of the planned high speed rail (HSR) project. This payment covers a variety of sunk costs, such as consulting services, infrastructure design and manpower to complete the HSR project. Land acquisition expenses are not covered. Singapore had spent nearly SGD270 million on the project.
Earlier on January 1, 2021, the Prime Ministers of both the countries released a joint statement announcing the end of the HSR project.
The planned 350 km-long HSR system had aimed to reduce journey time between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to 90 minutes from the current 11 hours on train services.