A cross-border MRT system which will connect Singapore and Johor Baru in Malaysia will begin passenger service by the end of December 2024, ministers from the two countries announced on Monday, 31 July.

A bilateral agreement on the Singapore-Johor Baru Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link will be signed by December this year, the ministers said in a joint statement after the 13th meeting of the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia.

The meeting was co-chaired by Singapore's Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan and Malaysia's Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

The RTS Link was first announced in 2010. Singapore has confirmed that its RTS terminus will be located at Woodlands North station, along the Thomson-East Coast MRT line, while Malaysia has chosen Bukit Chagar as its main terminal for the RTS.

The RTS Link will be able to carry up to 10,000 passengers in each direction every hour, said the statement. Once it begins passenger service, the existing KTMB Tebrau shuttle will cease operations.

At the meeting, both governments also agreed on the key commercial agreements for the RTS Link. Each will appoint an infrastructure company to fund, build, own, maintain and upgrade the civil infrastructure and stations within their own countries.

In the meantime, both governments noted that more can be done to manage congestion at the Causeway, the statement said. To that end, the KTMB Tebrau shuttle has increased its initial 14 daily trips in 2016 to 26 daily trips as of June to cope with the demand.

"We know residents are concerned about the Causeway jam" said Mr Khaw. "In a way, that reflects the very strong activities of trade, of people between the two countries.”

"So both sides are working very hard to try to relieve the problem.”

Within the next few years, the shuttle frequency should be raised to 36, "if we press on with some solutions" he added.

But Mr Khaw stressed that once the RTS Link begins operations, the shuttle will cease within six months in order to "give greater certainty to the commercial players” who are thinking about operating the RTS Link.

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