At last, seeing light at the end of the tunnel..

Click HERE to view the joint statement by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak at the Singapore-Malaysia Leaders' Retreat..

i overheard this from someone (maybe key figures involved in the deal) several months back at some cafe. (they were talking really loud)

the first phase of the deal is merely cosmetic. the long term plan is to relocate the train station to tuas, build a railway connection there to link the factories of the Iskandar development region and Tuas area. railway connection could eventually come with the hypothetical third crossing/causeway.

long term plans for SG are to reclaim the land in the CBD, eventually shift the PSA port operations to tuas/jurong once the PSA lease expires in 2040 and use that new space/reclaimed space to expand more room/"retake" land so that the CBD can expand.

but im not sure if we are giving away too much in exchange for the tanjong pagar land (do we get the land area that the track occupies as well ?). because if we dont, trading away two plots in rochor/ophir road and marina south is really really expensive. those are premium grade land.

I believe we will retake back the land that the track is occupying.
If one remembers, the tracks from Malaysia used to run all the way to Tanjong Pagar and also into Jurong.

Today, the tracks in Jurong are gone, and some parts of the what used to be the tracks are taken over by companies whose area is beside the tracks.

What could be possible is that the total size of the land which will be transferred under the ownership of the new company, could have included the amount occupied by the tracks.

The 3 parcels of land including the additional three which I believe is currently owned and/or occupied by KTMB. It could be swapped with other pieces of land as stated in the joint statement.

M-S Pte Ltd = Malaysia-Singapore... what a name for a company!

I'm actually looking forward towards a high speed rail link, SG to KL in under 1.5 hours. This will surely hit those budget airlines hard in the pocket.

Somehow it sound to me like "Mas Selamat".. :lol:

Wah lao! Like that also can ar ?? :D

all land south of woodland checkpoint, including tracks, unused land and watever nots... would be returned completely to singapore.

some pieces of land would be used to exchange for the few parcel of land currently under KTMB.... but the key word is "equivalent value".... not "equivalent size".

thus its likely the size of the "prime land" singapore has to share with malaysia would be relatively much smaller in size... railway track land NOT INCLUDED.

with malaysia holding 60%, it would means malaysia would have to fork out 60% of the total cost of watever developement plans intended.

I'm wondering how would M respond... I think he would probably be bitter about it and might accuse Najib of selling out Malaysia to SG and to allow SG to occupy Malaysian land. Anything on his blog yet?

This is his blog; http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/

So far, nothing yet.. Nothing on his Facebook fan page too..

he probably didnt know about it yet.

wait till he recovers from shock, first. :D

the "plan" doesn't gel at all.

first of all what sense would it make to move the station to Tuas, and thus allowing KTM train ops to again penetrate deep into Singapore? to build such a rail link could be expensive since this is a heavy rail (much much heavier than the MRT), and it would either have to be underground or elevated.

if we leave the KTM heavy rail terminated at Woodlands, we can have connect any kind of transport services to it without having to be constrained by legacy train ops.

besides the third crossing is in the east, I do not see how it will connect to Tuas.

The only rail that will make sense to penetrate deep into Singapore, is possibly the trans Asian bullet train. We might like this train to terminate near to downtown area. how to take this train line all the way down south should be a problem for tomorrow since the bullet train is still a sky dream.


ps: yes all the land used by KTM (including the track) is on permanent lease to KTM (not Malaysian sovereign as Dr. M would like people to think) AS LONG AS it is used to operate a rail service. This is why KTM die die also must stay in Tg Pagar so they do not have to surrender the land. So now we can recover all the "lost connection" created by the rail splitting up the land and redevelop them in meaningful ways.

ah.. i see. they were talking about the IDR and the end of PSA lease and in the context of the probable likelihood of shifting port operations closer to tuas so we can "reclaim" the downtown land for expansion of the CBD. the building/extension of railway line to tuas is to offer greater shipping options and means of moving goods and material between SG and the IDR. not the current PSA tanjong pagar operations.

about the third crossing bit, i really have no idea. is it really going to be situated in the east ? i see what you mean though, dosent gel with the third crossing location thing.

A bit more information about KTM tracks. Our mindef/gombak camp will be "free" from the rail mence.

I am not sure if there is any more place in the west for another crossing :D

if we move port operations to Tuas, that might be too concentrated with the petrochem also there, and I thought most of the useable space already occupied by Pasir Panjang terminal.

Can someone summmarise what is the win win for both countries? The report is too lengthy with several twists.

1 Singapore Win

2 Singapore Lose

3 Malaysia Win

4 Malaysia Lose

The way you put it... no win no lost. The equation neutralised itself.

Some parts of the "old" KTM railway going to Jurong area is still around, including a rusty old bridge near Taban Garden near the AYE expressway exit at Jurong town hall road/Cycle & carriage building .

Some part of the Clementi KTM railway which use to link to the Jurong area was remove about a year ago as far as I know.

I believe the Jurong/Clementi tracks were already disused or seldom used since the early 80s. The old bridge over Sungei Ulu Pandan were used for simulated demolition during my SOCE course in 81.

What likely next from the KTMB deal is bullet train services which will go up to KL or further locations like China. A plus for those who fears flying and the sea travel. :blink:

My Malaysian friend who came here for the Navy Open House.. He took the train back to his hometown.. He told me, while on the way to Tampin, the train hit a cow.. Think the cow didn't know what hit it.. :P

Thats dangerous, the train may derail!

--> Photo 1

--> Photo 2

Photo credits to Kuan, my friend from MY who came down here for NOH 2010..

Malaysian bloggers respond with subtlety and tact.

At least there are some Malaysian politician that is still reasonable.

Shahrir: Ridiculous To Pretend KTM Land In Singapore Is Malaysian Territory

lol! just the laugh that I needed to perk my day up, nice find there! :D

Is there a screw missing in his brain?

That was an incredibly supportive article. Thanks for sharing.

@valice, I don't think a screw is missing. I think the brain itself is missing.

It very dangerous to have the youth of Malaysia actually thinking of going war with SG and other neighbours, i mean eventually they will one day be taking over the current government.

Irrational, unreasonable, ignorant and violent comments like these reassured me that having a very high defence budget is justified.

Tankee, those posts don't seem to be by the youth, but rather older members of the public.

Now thats worst isn't it...i mean being older usually mean been more matured and rational...less violent too

I think it depends. If a large proportion of the general adult population feels that way, definitely. If it's a small portion, well, extremists exist in all societies. And thankfully, ridiculous assertions do not make reality.