A Johor state government official has allayed fears that the highly-anticipated East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) and the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) would lead to the demise of the local airline industry, reported The Edge.
“If the impact was so negative, as alleged by some parties, then bus companies and other transportation systems will no longer function. On the contrary, these projects give the public more choices,” Johor State Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Committee Chairman Hasni Mohammad told Bernama.
“I believe all transportation companies, whether for buses, airlines or trains, will have their own business plans, and I am certain that whatever the government undertakes will not sideline other sectors.”
He believes the government took into consideration the potential negative effect of the HSR and ECRL on different businesses like domestic airlines.
Hasni said this on Tuesday (24 April) after holding the ground-breaking ceremony for the 192km Gemas-Johor Bahru Electric Double-Tracking Railway project, which is expected to cost RM9.4 billion.
This is in reply to former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s allegation that the ECRL and HSR would wreck the local airlines business.
“Is it necessary at this stage to have the ECRL or travel by train to Singapore? What would happen to our MAS, or AirAsia and Malindo? People would use the train instead of our airlines,” he said last Saturday.
“[For example,] if I can go to Singapore in 90 minutes [by HSR], why would I want to wait in the airport for 45 minutes and then take another train? I might as well take the HSR. So what’s going to happen to our airline industry? Did they think about it? Have they studied what would happen to our airlines?”
Image sourced from GCR
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