KUALA LUMPUR: Japanese firm, including East Japan Railway Co, have opted out of participating in the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail project ahead of the deadline for the request of information (RFI), according to Kyodo News.

Citiing government and company sources, the report said the firms had intended to use the shinkansen bullet train system in Japan for the project, and decided that it would be to risky to do so without financial help from the Malaysian government.

This is expected to leave the door open for Chinese businesses, which built a high-speed railway in Indonesia, and are now constructing another in Thailand, to secure the project.

The deadline for the RFI for the KL-Singapore HSR project, which has been runnning since July 2023, is next Monday.

With the close of RFI, the government is expected to shortlist candidates within several months and start full-fledged negotiations with the Singaporean government later this year, at the earliest.