KTM RailWatch:JohorShuttle

[GWR]

Rail service between mall and Singapore
Ahmad Fairuz Othman


[Table: NST]

KERETAPI Tanah Melayu Berhad will launch a rail shuttle service from Danga City Mall (DCM), Johor Baru, to Singapore beginning Jan 5.

FAST, EASY AND CONVENIENT: The train schedule for travel between Singapore and Kempas Baru, via Danga City Mall.

The mall in Jalan Tun Razak is the first shopping complex in the south to have its own train platform.

There will be eight services to and from Tanjung Pagar train station in Singapore each day.

The promotional fare is S$3 from Singapore and RM3 from Johor Baru.

On average, there will be four coaches per train with a capacity for up to 200.

Johor Tourism Action Council general manager A. Jabar Md Tahir said a one-way trip would take about 1.5 hours.

"The journey includes Customs and Immigration clearance. It's convenient, fast and easy," he said.

The earliest train from Singapore is Ekspres Lambaian Timur, which departs from Tanjung Pagar at 5.35am and is estimated to arrive at Danga City Mall at 6.20am. The second train, Ekspres Rakyat will depart at 7.40am and arrive at 8.34am.

In the afternoon, Ekspres Sinaran Petang will depart at 2pm and arrive at 2.52pm. The final train, Ekspres Kembara, departs at 7.10pm and arrives at 8.06pm.

Meanwhile, the first train from the DCM departs at 9.37am and is estimated to arrive at Tanjung Pagar at 11am. The Ekpres Sinaran Pagi at 2.19pm is next and is expected to arrive in Singapore at 4.10pm.

The Ekspres Lambaian Timur departs at 6.50pm and arrives at 9pm, while the last train, Ekspres Rakyat departs at 8.08pm and arrives at 9.35pm.

The DCM management is also providing a free bus service for city tours from the mall.

Jabar said the train services would complement other transport services between Johor Baru and Singapore.

Despite a slowdown in the economy, Singaporeans continue to be the top money spenders in Malaysia.

Statistics from the 2008 Malaysia Mega Sale carnival showed that Singaporeans spent RM62.8 million in credit card transactions, followed by Indonesians (RM41.6 million)

An estimated 10.5 million Singaporeans visited Malaysia last year.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/J...cle/index_html

[GWR]

Same issue from a Malaysian perspective:
http://207.5.19.33/forum/showpost.ph...4&postcount=28

Jan 3, 2009
Rail to JB mega mall starts Mon
Mall will have its own train station for trains to and from S'pore
By Diana Othman


[Photo: Straits Times - The new seven-storey Danga City Mall (above) is one of JB's biggest malls and will have its own train stop (next picture). Malayan Railways will from Monday run eight daily trips to and from the mall, which is five minutes from JB's town centre. -- ST PHOTOS: DESMOND FOO.]

THE newest mega mall in Johor Baru (JB), five minutes from the town centre, has been given its own train station for Malayan Railway trains originating in Singapore.

Danga City Mall, one of JB's biggest, is a seven-storey shopping centre with 92,900 sq m floor space. Metrojaya department store is its anchor tenant. It also has a bowling arcade, eateries and clothing outlets among its 500 shop units.

Singaporean shoppers who make regular money-saving forays into Johor's capital to shop have thus far favoured the City Square mall and shops in the heart of the town.

Now, Malayan Railway will give these shoppers another option. It will take just 90 minutes to get to Danga City Mall - including the time needed to clear immigration checks at the border.

Malayan Railways, or Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) will from Monday run eight daily trips to and from Danga City Mall - four departing from its Tanjong Pagar station here and four returning.

This month, promotional tickets will go for $3 for a single trip to the mall and RM3 to return here.

KTM trains can carry about 200 passengers on each run, but can take up to 1,000 per trip by just adding carriages if the demand calls for it.

Mr Hoo Seong Chang, who chairs Johor's Tourism and Domestic Trade committee, said at a press conference yesterday that KTM's stepped-up service was aimed at improving transportation between Singapore and Johor.

'It will be more convenient for travellers to have another travel option to JB,' he said.

Besides taking KTM trains or driving their own cars, Singaporeans get to JB by buses such as SBS Transit services 160 and 170 and taxis.

Mr Hoo added that KTM's services would also give trade and investment in other sectors a fillip as well.

Danga City Mall is part of Johor's project to turn Danga Bay into a tourist magnet.

Hotels and places of interest like fishing wharfs and Legoland Malaysia theme park are planned for the area.

Danga City Mall is also being developed into a 'transport hub': It will be where bus tours of JB, car rentals and transport to other parts of Malaysia will be available.

Singaporean Marzuin Marzudi, 28, a logistics executive who drives to Johor to shop at least twice a month, said she would consider taking the train.

'It sounds more convenient as the train stops right at the shopping areas. This is especially good news for those who don't drive as well,' she said.

About 10 million travellers entered Malaysia from Singapore between January to September last year, seven million of them Singaporean.

About 300 travellers enter Malaysia by train each day.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_321453.html

[jpatokal]

A trip report for the shuttle:

http://207.5.19.33/forum/showthread.php?t=3754

[Yappofloyd]

It will be a shame when Singapore station closes as though it is badly located it is a nice quaint station with some unique features and art.

KTMB to leave central Singapore 27 May 2010 IRG
SINGAPORE: The Prime Ministers of Singapore and Malaysia announced an agreement on May 24 for Malaysian national railway KTMB to vacate its Tanjong Pagar terminus in Singapore by July 1 2011.

Trains from Malaysia will instead terminate at Woodlands, the Singapore end of the cross-border causeway, with a bus link to a nearby metro station. In the longer term a cross-border rapid transit connection could be provided.

A previous agreement was reached in 1990 for KTMB to leave Tanjong Pagar, but did not set a timescale. Closing the metre gauge KTMB line will free up land near the city centre for redevelopment. A new property company, M-S Pte Ltd, is to be established this year and will be owned 60% by Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional Bhd and 40% by Singapore's Temasek Holdings. The existing Tanjong Pagar station building will be retained as the centrepiece of the redevelopment.

The Prime Ministers also agreed to study the feasibility of a cross-border rapid transit system connecting a still-to-be determined location in Singapore with Johor Bahru and Tanjung Puteri in Malaysia. This could open in 2018, with KTMB then cutting its main line services back from Woodlands to Johor Bahru.

[jpatokal]

I have quite mixed feelings about this...

Good: The deadlock has apparently finally been resolved, so at least they're going to go forward with something instead of just letting everything rot like it has for the past 40 years. The promise of a real MRT connection -- most probably via the Thomson MRT Line -- is also, well, promising. And on a more immediate level, the other steps of doubling bus services, liberalizing taxis and reducing 2nd Link tolls will have a significant positive impact.

Bad: Woodlands is a terrible place to terminate the KTM line, it won't even have an MRT station nearby. I'm surprised and disappointed that the option to build a new terminus at Bukit Panjang was not taken. However, even the Woodlands terminal is apparently only a temporary solution, with the intention of removing the KTM line entirely once the MRT is up and running.

Even worse, though, is the fact that this pretty much eliminates any hope of a high-speed Malaysia-Singapore link, which really should connect to JB and terminate in the city center to be viable. The present KTM station is not badly located at all, it's just -- purposely? -- badly connected; there's even a station reservation (NE2) on the North-East Line pretty much right underneath the KTM station.

Unclear: While the station buildings, sidings etc will obviously be developed into shopping malls, offices and condos, the fate of the track itself remains unclear. If a high-speed link is permanently off the cards, the least they could do is turn it into a "rail trail" for bicyclists and walkers, but I suspect it will be more profitable to fill in bits and use them for yet more shopping malls, offices and condos.

[sabaisabai]

Being a bit of a rail buff and staying in Singapore, I'm quite sad about the imminent closure of the railway from JB/Woodlands to Tanjong Pagar.

The infrastructure around the Singapura station certainly occupies a substantial area of land. However, most of this land could be returned to commercial use while maintaining a passenger train service. The only necessary infrastructure is a couple of platforms and the station - maintenance and sidings could be moved further north, in Singapore or Johor. Heck, commercial development could be built over the top of the railway in central areas.

As for MY-SG politics, I'm sure with a bit of ingenuity that some arrangement could be made to modernize the system. Why not a "Singapore Rail" with modern and flexible rail stock? The potentials are endless, and I can't help but feel that the infrastructure is being sold off for short-term profits and that's the whole story.

[ncr]

I was rather shocked to learn (not here, by chance on Wikipedia) about the closure.

A few thoughts:

• I still don't quite understand the rationale behind this decision..... okay, so they want to use railway land for commercial developments - but it cannot be that large (apart from station/sidings areas) or lucrative after all? We are talking about a single track corridor with 2 stations (Bukit Timah and Tanjong Pagar) here. Plus, only the terminal station is anywhere near the city center / in a high-density(?) area. In the end, aren't they spending multitudes of what they'll ever get in profits from redevelopment on the future MRT line (Thomson Line) necessary to replace this rail link?
• Not a good idea at a time when we finally begin to see a real possibility for a China-Singapore rail link emerging......
• Also bad for the Eastern & Orient Express - what's that legendary journey gonna be called in the future? "Bangkok - Woodlands"? Ouch!

See also Wikipedia:

Singapore Railway Station
"Following an agreement between Malaysia and Singapore which was reached on 24 May 2010, railway operations into the station will cease by 1 July 2011, after which the building will be conserved and may be integrated with future developments on the site. KTM's southern terminus would be relocated to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint."

The politics behind the Malaysian-Singaporean railway mess

As for jpatokal's remark ("letting everything rot like it has for the past 40 years"), I am not sure about the state of KTM installations in Singapore, but I have travelled from S'pore to Johor and back by train and haven't noticed anything that would suggest they are rotten, and in this shot everything appears rather neat & tidy, especially when compared to Thailand:


Bukit Timah Railway Station (source: Wikipedia)

[jpatokal]

As for jpatokal's remark ("letting everything rot like it has for the past 40 years"), I am not sure about the state of KTM installations in Singapore, but I have travelled from S'pore to Johor and back by train and haven't noticed anything that would suggest they are rotten, and in this shot everything appears rather neat & tidy, especially when compared to Thailand:

Sure, the stations are maintained more or less the way they were in the Federated Malayan State Railways days, but there have been no substantial improvements of any kind to the train link for 40 years: it's still single track, slow, and entirely unintegrated to other infrastructure, meaning there are only a few services a day which take 1.5 hours (!) to cross twenty-odd kilometers from city to city, most of that spent sitting around waiting. This means that unless you're a train buff and really plan ahead, it makes no sense to use the service: I lived for several years within walking distance of the Singapore station and visited JB quite regularly, but only used the train two-three times.

If, on the other hand, the line had been double-tracked and electrified, with MRT transfer stations built at sensible points (eg. Tanjong Pagar, Bukit Panjang and Woodlands) and services every 10-15 minutes, it would have been an extremely viable option for commuting between the cities. As the terminally congested Causeway testifies, there is a crying need for a service like this, and if tearing down the near-useless current line is the political price to pay for creating a usable alternative, then so be it.