Much ado about the RTS Link
Do we really need to worry about the RTS Link?
The RTS Link is expected to absorb up to 35% of Causeway traffic, according to Malaysia’s MRT Corp. With an average of 242k daily users according to Singapore ICA, this means that up to 85,000 people are expected to use the RTS Link daily — expect more on weekends and holidays when Singaporeans flee en masse to JB.
Of course, this doesn’t really tally with the current statements on their website that at opening, the RTS Link will only serve around 40,000 daily passengers. It’s more likely that this is a long term projection.
But as we’ve seen with the Circle Line, long term projections can quickly become short-term. When the 5–6 minute travel time between stations far outweighs the hours-long wait on the Causeway, the RTS Link may find itself far more popular then expected and will have to quickly ramp up its operations to support so many passengers. After all, during busy Singapore holidays, the land checkpoints can and have seen over 500,000 daily crossings.
What, then, will have to happen?
The eye in the sky
Both countries’ immigration officials have been innovating. I’m not sure whether it’s because the RTS Link is a long-term concern, or whether it’s just to resolve the immediate question of checkpoint congestion.
On the Singapore end, passport-free clearance is expected to be implemented starting from the end of this year, after the ICA completes a technology refresh at the checkpoints. Current automated gates are expected to clear a passenger in around 40 seconds, and passport-free clearance for “known” persons such as Singapore residents may be even faster. Will this include work permit holders commuting, though?
The Malaysians aren’t standing still either. QR code immigration clearance in the Singapore sense will also be implemented on the Malaysian side of the border, and the Malaysians have also been expanding autogate eligibility. Apparently the requirement to submit an MDAC beforehand is also no longer a thing.
But what remains is the risk of smuggling and other illegal activities; made all the more salient by an attack on a police station just up north in Ulu Tiram, Johor. The Singapore ICA has thus implemented additional security checks, and this will result in less clearance capacity as vehicles need to be thoroughly checked for items that shouldn’t be crossing borders.
The RTS Link will have almost none of these issues, since rail passengers obviously cannot drive their cars onto the RTS Link. Those cars will have to be left on the respective sides of the border, and passengers clear immigration and ride the RTS Link on foot.
Similarly, the complex robotics that Singapore’s ICA and HTX are implementing for automated clearance for car passengers may not necessarily be implemented on the Malaysian side either, which will likely still result in jams that ICA can continue blaming on “tailback from Malaysia”. Though, I will admit, it remains to be seen on how effective the QR code clearance systems will be; for now, it appears to be mainly about reducing data entry work at the immigration counter — not minor, but perhaps not enough.
Pushed to the limit
Assuming the checkpoints have found ways to increase their passenger throughput, what about the train system?
A quick win is removing seats, which may work better due to the straight sides of the RTS Link trains, unlike the curved sides of Singapore MRT trains. At least, I say that with the RTS Link trains expected to be based on the LRT3 trains — albeit in 4-car formation instead of LRT3’s 3-car trains.
As for the service itself, MRT Corp currently quotes that the RTS Link will operate at 6 minutes between trains in off peak hours and 3.6 minutes in peak hours. I would go as far as to say that at this kind of intervals, the only benefit of a CBTC system is that you may not have to install so much equipment on the tracks. The Klang Valley MRT uses axle counters, unlike Singapore MRT lines where the LTA has stuck with track circuits.
The first question to ask may be the travel time of the trains. There are many similarities in horizontal alignment between the RTS Link and that of the Circle Line between Caldecott and Botanic Gardens. Train speeds are also similar, with both lines quoted to operate at 80kph. But yet, MRT Corp claims that the RTS Link will have a travel time of six minutes. This is quite a lot more than the Circle Line, where trains take around four minutes to cover the stretch.
Of course, it could be that the long downslope to enter Woodlands North station limits the realistic speed of the trains, as southbound trains have to proceed more cautiously (especially in wet weather), and northbound trains may not have the capability to push a fully loaded train up the slope at maximum performance levels. This slope can be seen taking shape in RTS Link construction update videos, where you can clearly see completed piers between Pier 48 at the Singapore-Malaysia border and the Singapore tunnel portal getting shorter and shorter.
Train design may mitigate this — MTR’s South Island Line has fully-motorized 3-car trains — but it’s not a panacea. As always, there is space to innovate.
The main issue, though, is the headline feature of the RTS Link — that all immigration clearance is done at the point of departure. While it makes things much more convenient in that people don’t need to worry about getting off a train and then needing to clear another round of security and immigration checks, the downside is that trains will likely need to go through security checks after every trip. Between this and the extended travel time, this means that the overall trip time for a single train shoots up — and the RTS Link will only procure 8 trainsets, limiting the service it can run.
So what if we could eliminate the security checks? After all, in Singapore, a CBTC system allows trains to run as closely as 90 seconds — in other countries, it can be even lesser, like how Taipei can run a train every 80 seconds. Out of service trains that don’t need to stop to carry passengers can potentially move even closer.
Thus, a possible solution would be to have two independent loops in peak hour, with more trains running in a given direction based on the peak service direction — similar in concept to the contra flow lanes at the land checkpoints. Trains can then return out of service back to the other station instead of carrying passengers, reducing the need for security checks, and reducing the overall trip time as well. With a shorter trip time, lesser trains may then be needed.
Depending on the limits of the CBTC system, you could potentially run a train every two minutes or so, with every one in so many trains being dedicated to the counter-peak service. Or open headways just a bit wider and have counter-peak trains slotting in between peak trains.
5-car trains may also be doable depending on exactly what was cut back by the Mahathir administration and how. A 4-car RTS Link train is 76m long, with each car being around 19m long. Adding a 5th car would take the train to 95m long, which is only 2m longer than a 4-car TEL train. If platform lengths were not touched, this might be doable, with minor platform extensions and modifications to the depot area. Or perhaps we could even return to the original plan of using TEL-spec trains, with the 8 RTS Link trainsets sent up north to increase service on LRT3.
Outside in
Any project is only as strong as its network. Not everyone can drive to the RTS Link terminal in Bukit Chagar, even if park and ride lots are provided to enable that. And when there are still poor public transport connections to places like Mid Valley and Mount Austin, people will likely still drive instead of using the RTS Link.
It appears that the Loke ministry knows this, and that there are plans now to introduce Komuter services in southern Malaysia, when the Gemas-JB double tracking and electrification is complete. Plans may have gone as far as to prepare for trainset procurement, likely on a leasing model.
This may help, but not by much. A KTM Class 92 has a passenger capacity of 1,118; running trains every 15 minutes — which I admit is already very optimistic — will only have a capacity below 5,000 passengers per hour per direction into JB Sentral, hardly enough to saturate the RTS Link as it currently stands. And those trains may not necessarily be full either, depending on how the Komuter network is designed.
But Johor must also be called out for the constant foot-dragging on higher order transit. This blog may have a disdain for BRT, but Johor already planned and designed one, even starting on land acquisition. Discussions about LRT or falling for propaganda about Chinese ART is counterproductive. What should Johor do? It should just build out the original IMBRT plans anyway. 18m articulated buses every 10 minutes is a quality of service close to Singapore feeder service, then run those buses more often. If you want anything bigger, the Brisbane Metro exists.
They would do well to learn from Taichung. Taichung had a failed BRT system which was eventually ripped out; the BRT infrastructure was converted into a median bus lane for regular Taichung buses to use, also benefiting those regular bus services. BRT vehicles were redeployed to new trunk services which made all the stops the BRT does. Now, Taichung will soon start work on the MRT Blue line, which follows the route of the BRT in central Taichung.
Johor can, like Taichung, eventually use the BRT right of way to build higher order transit. But the lesson here is that it needs something first and cannot let perfect be the enemy of good. Of course, the Johor government claims they can build out an “elevated ART system” by end-2026. I hope it’s going to be still based on the BRT they designed, but how likely is that?
Discussions on ramping up capacity of the RTS Link may be for naught if the Malaysian side can’t feed the RTS Link with enough passengers. And remember also that the industrial heart of Singapore in Jurong and Tuas, where significant populations of Malaysians are likely to be employed, is better accessed through the Second Link. As such, investing in bus service there may have better outcomes compared to overclocking the current RTS Link.
Of course, Johor will also need to develop a multi-gateway public transport system if this happens. With the Tanjung Pelepas KTM branch line near the Second Link, it could also be considered for Komuter services to be extended as close to the Second Link as possible, with some kind of bus shuttle to Tuas Link station (perhaps an expansion of existing CW7?). As a “second RTS”, it may thus not matter if the first one isn’t as high capacity as people would like, because alternatives are available.
Like what you read? Join the Telegram Channel for updates, or follow on Instagram for quick takes!
