Despite heavy influence from China over the awarding of the high speed rail (HSR) project, Singapore’s HSR infrastructural design was awarded to United States’ Aecom. Architectural, civil, electrical, mechanical and other design services will be based on the specifications from Aecom and this will likely put China behind the race for the lucrative construction project. Japan is hence likely to win the construction tender as their specifications are more likely to meet US standards, with Aecom presiding over the qualification of tender submissions.
However, the bulk of the S$20.4 billion HSR project is in Malaysia, with only 15km of the rail running in Singapore. Malaysia has not announced the winner of their design tender but it is likely to be a China company given their recent warming up of bilateral relations.
The Singapore-Kuala Lumpur HSR is expected to be completed and in operations by 2026. Singapore’s HSR project will see Jurong East as the terminal point and the two countries will be linked by a high bridge.