Colas Rail tracking high-speed train project

French group Colas Rail, the recent winner for part of a light rail extension work, plans to bid for the high-speed rail project linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.


“We constructed almost half of all the existing high-speed lines in France linking major cities in Europe and have the expertise and manpower.

“We believe we can do the job in Malaysia,” Colas chairman and chief executive officer Patrick Guenole told Business Times in a recent interview.

The company also plans to bid for two major high-speed rail projects in Russia and Morocco with its partners. The projects in Russia and Morocco are worth US$17 billion (RM54 billion) and ?2 billion (RM8.5 billion), respectively.

Colas and a local partner won a RM674 million contract in June this year to do the electrical and mechanical system for the Kelana Jaya LRT extension line.

YTL Corp Bhd first mooted the high-speed rail project in Malaysia in the late 1990s and again in 2006. It operates the KLIA Express rail service, which connects the KL International Airport to KL Sentral, the city’s transport hub.

The project was put on hold in April 2008 due to its high cost, with a RM8 billion estimation then. Last year, the government said it will be revived and was highlighted as a high impact project in the government’s Economic Transformation Programme.

The project could take shape next year but it will depend on a feasibility study by the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD).

SPAD will undertake the feasibility study on the project early next year, which will be completed in six to 12 months. The commission had completed a pre-feasibility study.

Last Friday, Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed reportedly said results of the pre-feasibility study have been positive.

“ ... certainly it is a necessity (to have the train). I think it is a question of numbers, cost and benefits,” he told a press conference after the Malaysia-Singapore Business Forum.