A significant moment arrived on Monday, June 30, for the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link, as its very first train was officially shown to the public. This marks a big step forward for the cross-border train service, which is set to begin carrying passengers in December 2026. When it gets going, the RTS Link plans to run every day from 6 AM right up to midnight, making travel between the two cities much smoother.
This new train service is quite short, only stretching about 4 kilometres. It connects the Bukit Chagar Station in Johor Bahru to the Woodlands North Station in Singapore. The trains themselves are built by a company called China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC).
Each train is designed to comfortably hold 607 people who are standing, and during the busiest times, it can fit roughly 1,000 passengers. The trip between the two stations is expected to be incredibly fast, taking just about 5 minutes. And during peak hours, passengers won’t have to wait long at all, with trains coming every 3.6 minutes. In total, eight of these trains will be ready when the service officially starts running.
The very first train, the one just unveiled, was put together at CRRC’s facility in China. It made its way to Singapore, arriving at Jurong Port on April 3. This train is at the Singapore Rail Test Centre right now. It’s going through some very important checks, called off-site system integration testing.
They’re making sure the train works perfectly with all the other parts of the rail system, like the signals that tell it when to go, the doors on the platforms, and how it talks to the control centre. This phase of testing is expected to last about four months, starting in July. After these tests are done, the train will be moved onto the actual RTS Link tracks for more testing, where it will join the other seven trains. Four of these seven trains are already being put together in Malaysia, and the last three will follow the same process.
About 56 per cent of the work to install the rail system is already finished. The RTS Link is also seen as a really important part of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. Malaysia’s Transport Minister, Anthony Loke, spoke about how the project, which was once “up in limbo” after a change in Malaysia’s government in May 2018, moved forward because of a new agreement between both countries. He highlighted that “The RTS Link demonstrates international cooperation in a world increasingly leaning towards trade protectionism.”
Singapore’s Acting Transport Minister, Jeffrey Siow, agreed with this idea, stating that the rail connection would “bring shared economic and social benefits and increase mobility.” It’s also been confirmed that Singapore doesn’t plan to cut back on cross-border public bus services once the RTS Link is up and running.
Mr. Siow mentioned that the fares will be decided by the company running the trains, RTS Operations, based on business considerations. Mr. Loke added “The rail operator is conducting a market study to set a price that encourages commuters to use the service, suggesting that the fare should not exceed the cost of crossing the border by private transport, including fuel and fees.” He also mentioned that “operating hours might be adjusted to accommodate commuters who currently start their journey as early as 5 am.”
The RTS Link trains are designed to be driverless, where they run completely automatically without a human driver on board. They can travel at a top speed of 80 kilometres per hour. Each train is about 76 meters long and 2.7 meters wide, made up of four cars. Inside, you’ll find 126 fixed seats and 16 seats that can be folded up.
For paying fares, passengers will use automatic gates with a system that accepts different payment methods. A really neat feature is that you’ll do all your immigration and customs checks at the station where you get on the train, whether in Johor Bahru or Singapore. This means no more long queues at the other end, making the journey much smoother. For those with hearing difficulties, the trains will have a special system that sends audio announcements straight to hearing aids, helping to reduce background noise and make announcements clearer.
