ISKANDAR PUTERI, April 30 — Johor Regent, Tunku Mahkota Ismail, today called on the federal government to expedite approval for a rail transit system that will integrate with the upcoming Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link.

He said the federal government must give urgent support and attention to such projects in ensuring seamless connectivity and to reduce the city’s traffic congestion.

“There is an urgent need to ensure that Johor is prepared to face the increased movement of people.

“I hope that all necessary considerations and approvals can be expedited to ensure that the public transport system in Johor is truly capable of supporting economic growth and the well-being of Johoreans,” he said when officiating the Johor state legislative assembly’s new session at the Sultan Ismail Building in Kota Iskandar here today. 

The RTS Link, scheduled to begin operations on January 1, 2027, is a four-kilometre (km) shuttle service connecting Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru to Woodlands in Singapore.

Upon completion, the RTS Link will be the third land crossing to Singapore and is expected to further reduce the severe congestion that is experienced along the Causeway Johor.

With a peak capacity of 10,000 passengers per hour each way, the RTS Link aims to enhance cross-border connectivity and foster stronger Malaysia-Singapore ties.

It has a projected daily ridership of 40,000.

Once operational, it is expected to transform the commute for the 350,000 people who use the Causeway daily, one of the busiest border crossings in the world.

On March 12, Malay Mail reported that a light metro people mover (APM), similar to that of the Light Rail Transit (LRT), is the ideal solution for a rapidly growing mid-size city like Johor Bahru.

Malcolm Owens, an Australian public transport expert with four decades of experience in helping to design and operate metro systems in Asia, said that other systems proposed such as the Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART), while potentially costing less, was not cost effective and would not cope well with the traffic and passenger increases projected for Johor Bahru.

The LRT-style APM system is capable of loads of up to 10,000 to 30,000 persons per hour per direction, while the ART is only expected to be able to cope with 3,000-5,000.

APMs are already used across the Causeway in Singapore on its Sengkang and Bukit Panjang LRT lines, as well as more than 50 cities globally.

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The United States government has issued an ultimatum demanding that Cuba release artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and rapper Maykel Osorbo, who have been imprisoned on the island for five years. In a secret meeting on April 10 in Havana, as part of negotiations that both governments have confirmed but about which very little is officially known, State Department officials gave Cuban authorities a two-week deadline for the release of the high-profile artists “as a gesture of good faith,” as well as the release of the more than 1,000 other political prisoners held by the regime.

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