Does Malaysia Need High-Speed Rail?
Whether a Kuala Lumpur-Singapore line would meet passenger-traffic predictions is a key factor.
A model of China's bullet train is displayed at a high-speed rail exhibition in Kuala Lumpur last year.
Photographer: Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said he’ll cancel a planned high-speed railway that was intended to reduce journey times between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore from about five hours to 90 minutes. Bloomberg Opinion columnists David Fickling and Adam Minter debate the topic.
David Fickling: I think we both agree that high-speed rail, or HSR, doesn’t make sense in all areas. The economic benefits can be surprisingly slight and depend a lot on construction cost, population density, route length and ticket pricing.