Assessing the environmental impact of the Malaysia-Singapore High Speed Rail

The issue of mobility between Kuala Lumpur to Singapore has been held dear from both the cities’ administrators - from the English establishment days of the 18th and 19th centuries, to the rapid development period of these two independent nations of the 20th century.

However, with air and road transportation nearing its saturation levels, the key now is on improving mobility at an even greater pace to match the insatiable economic and social demands of the 21st century. The two nations look to established industrial nations of the United Kingdom, France, Japan and others for inspiration.

The answer to the business question of how to improve on the mobility of the countries is quite clear, that the time has come for these two Asian tigers to be connected via a high speed rail.

Upon completion of the high-speed rail, the travel time for commuters travelling between the two cities will be shortened to just 90 minutes, bringing untold economic benefits to both countries.

“The project has always been talked about, and debated, between the two governments of Malaysia and Singapore for some time now. But the project to build a high speed rail formally took off when the Prime Ministers of Malaysia and Singapore signed the agreement in December 2016” says Mark Loader of MyHSR.

Loader is the Project Delivery Director of MyHSR, the corporation set up to build and deliver the much touted high speed rail of Malaysia and Singapore. “In my present capacity, I am entrusted to deliver the construction and design of the high speed rail” Loader explains. “In this, I am also responsible to evaluate all the aspects of the design process and impacts of the construction, particularly those that involve the environmental, social and heritage impact of it” he adds.

“The fundamentals of building a high speed rail is the same all over the world. It has be straight. It has to be flat” says Loader. Because of such rigidity, compromises have to be made in the construction stage, that includes property acquisitions along the route, building tracks that cuts across water catchments, and forestry areas, and other challenges.

“That is why, in the design stage that we are at currently, MyHSR is and has executed the Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA), the Social Impact Analysis (SIA), and the Heritage Impact Analysis (HIA) to better mitigate and overcome the related challenges”. Watch the full interview to learn more on what Mark Loader has to say about the EIA

Photo credit: Inspirations by MyHSR Corporation

Podcast of the interview: