But fret not; the Malaysian government is here to help.

They have a couple of transportation projects in the pipeline, including the intercity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line, the massive East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and the Pan Borneo Highway.

The crème de la crème is none other than the KL-Singapore High Speed Railway (HSR).

After almost a decade of negotiations and heartbreaks, the ambitious and one-of-its-kind project finally got the greenlight to proceed after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong signed a memorandum in 2013.

The project of developing the railway is currently underway, and if all goes well, it is scheduled to begin operations in 2026.

Want to know more about the high-speed railway project? Well, today’s your lucky day! Here are five facts you probably didn’t know about the HSR:

#1 It was an old idea

Judging by the amount of press the project has been getting these past couple of years, one might think that the HSR is a recently announced project. It actually is not.

Believe it or not; the idea of creating a high-speed railway to connect Malaysia and Singapore was proposed all the way back in the 1990s. The idea was bounced around during Tun Dr. Mahathir’s reign as Prime Minister, but before anything concrete came out of it, the financial crisis in the late 90s put a full stop to the plan.

YTL Corporation revived the project back in 2006, but the staggering cost of RM8bil once again halted the project. It wasn’t until 2013 that Malaysia and Singapore officially agreed to build the railway. Well, like they say; it’s better late than never.

#2 It’s going to be huge!

We know that building a railway connecting two countries is going to be huge, but we did not know that it’s going to be this huge! Part of the Economic Transformation Programme, the HSR will be the largest infrastructure project in South East Asia – ever!

Spanning 350km, there are eight stations planned, starting from the still-under-construction Bandar Malaysia all the way to Jurong East in Singapore.

#3 It’s going to be really, really fast

The fastest bullet train in the world can be found in China. Called the Fuxing, it is capable of hitting 350km per hour. While the HSR bullet train will not top that speed, you’d be surprised to know that it won’t be too far off.

According to MyHSR Corp (the developer and asset owner of the HSR), the HSR bullet train will have a top speed of 320km per hour – which is just 30km per hour shy of becoming the world’s fastest passenger train. That would put us on par with Europe’s fastest, the Frecciarossa (also known as the “red arrow”). Not too shabby.

#4 Insane travel time

Of course, with great speed comes insane travel time.

MYHSR Corp said the HSR will get you from the heart of Kuala Lumpur to the Lion City in just 90 minutes! Yup, you can soon get to Singapore in less time than it takes for you to drive from KL to Ipoh.

To put it into perspective, a bus ride from KL to Singapore takes at least five hours, and around an hour if you’re flying. We are pretty sure the HSR will be cheaper than a return flight ticket.

#5 Jobs. Jobs everywhere!

Not only will the HSR greatly benefit Malaysians and Singaporeans who frequently travel between both countries for work or for leisure, it will also benefit job seekers.

When the project is completed 2026, it will open up a lot of job opportunities, around 442,000 to be exact. In fact, it is projected to create RM650 billion in economic growth through jobs and tourism.

Eradicating unemployment and bring in money at the same time? Why not, right?

Check out the video below to learn more about the KL-Singapore High Speed Railway (HSR):