When the High-Speed Rail (HSR) project was first proposed by Malaysia at the 2013 annual leaders’ retreat in Singapore, both sides hailed it as a “game changer”.

While Malaysia was expected to pay most of the cost – 335km of the 350km railway was to run through the peninsula – it was also set to reap the lion’s share of the benefits as the HSR would stop at several Malaysian cities along the way.

A World Bank study had estimated it would add RM21 billion (S$7 billion) to Malaysia’s coffers and create 111,000 jobs.

S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies visiting senior fellow Tomoo Kikuchi tells Insight that the HSR would have made possible the type of urban cluster seen in other global cities, such as Tokyo and New York.

Dr Kikuchi, who specialises in international economics, says: “Politically, it symbolises the will to integrate the two economies.”