France’s SNCF to be best reference for HSR

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SINGAPORE: Singapore and Kuala Lumpur will be linked by high-speed rail (HSR), with the first trains scheduled to run in 2026, cutting travelling time to 90 minutes at a speed of over 300km/hour.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said with the HSR, people would think of Kuala Lumpur (KL)-Singapore the same way as they think of London-Paris, Seoul-Busan, Taipei-Kaohsiung, Shanghai-Nanjing, or Tokyo-Osaka.

Hence, the experience of France’s national railway company SNCF in HSR in Europe and on cross-border operation could be meaningful for both countries.

SNCF operates more than 2,000 km of HSR line, six times the length of the 350km KL-Singapore HSR.

The SNCF operation is extended by almost 8,000 km of classical lines where Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) or high-speed trains carry on their journey.

Two hundreds stations are reached in France, as well as 50 other stations in European countries.

This augurs well for the KL-Singapore HSR as it will have only eight stations.

“We are proud of having been associated to great projects in the world within the last 10 to 15 years,” SNCF senior vice-president Philippe Lorand told Bernama in an email interview.

SNCF has 50 per cent of market share of the European high-speed system with about 500 train sets.

Since 1981, SNCF has developed seven new lines, each is adapted to a specific market with local, geographical and physical specificities.

SNCF sees the transnational project with a system approach which considers all the aspects of a railway project such as infrastructure, motive power, command and control, rolling stock and operations.

“Through our experience, we’ve learnt that there is not only one model, we must simultaneously consider speed, offer, and connections with existing lines, stations, marketing and the infrastructure.

“We have developed this expertise in the UK, South Korea, and Morocco, assisting several companies in their network construction,” he said.

With respect to cross-border operation, in France, SNCF experience is the result of the gradual creation of a network linking Paris to the main French towns and to the capitals of the surrounding countries – London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bern, Madrid, Luxembourg.

Other large towns such as Frankfurt and Munich, Geneva and Lausanne, Milan or Barcelona are also served, Lorand said.

For the KL-Singapore HSR, SNCF is offering three services – a 90-minute express service between Bandar Malaysia-Singapore; a domestic shuttle service which will stop at transit stations within Malaysia; and a shuttle service between Iskandar Puteri and Singapore.

About 100,000 commuters are estimated to use the KL-Singapore HSR service daily.

Lorand said SNCF expertise had allowed it to welcome more than 2.5 billion passengers since 1981.

Its long-term scheme was decided in 1990 and redefined in 2013.

Besides the HSR expertise, he said SNCF was also knowledgeable with the process Customs Immigration Quarantine (CIQ) Stations.

“Cross-cutting approach allows us to overtake all aspects of CIQ process and to conduct fully coordinated station-design compliant with service pledge level,” Lorand said.

According to MyHSR Corp, KL-Singapore HSR passengers will only need to undergo a CIQ clearance once, which is at the point of departure.

To facilitate swift and seamless travel, the Malaysian and Singaporean governments had agreed to collocate the CIQ facilities at three locations – Singapore, Iskandar Puteri and Kuala Lumpur.

The entire customs clearance process for passengers is expected to be shorter than if they were to take flights.

MyHSR is a company responsible for the development and promotion of the HSR project.

Updating on door-to-door service, Lorand said that SNCF had decided to propose a maximum of solutions – thanks to partnerships with car rental, car-pooling, care-sharing and bike-sharing.

“This is reality on SNCF rail network.

“Specifics services such as pick up of luggage, and delivery, as well as services such as urban planning, architecture of stations, so that intermodality can happen.

“We design easy access to other modes of transportations, metro, tram, buses, taxi and bicycles,” he said.

For the KL-Singapore HSR, all stations will be designed to integrate with the local public transport systems to ensure seamless connectivity.

The HSR’s eight stations are the terminal in Bandar Malaysia and Singapore and six intermediate stations in Putrajaya, Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri. — Bernama