KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) service will be a major boon for tourism, with Malacca expected to gain the most, said Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz.

The Tourism and Culture minister said the industry had long been anticipating the service, which could cover some 350km in about 90 minutes.

"Travelling time to Singapore will be cut by half. It is important to our economy as more than 50 per cent of our tourists come from Singapore,” he told reporters after the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the project was signed between the Malaysia and Singapore governments on Tuesday. The project is scheduled for completion in 2026.

Besides the 90-minute express service, there will also be a domestic service which would take about two-and-a-half hours.

The service will have eight stations, namely Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar, Batu Pahat, Iskandar Puteri and Singapore.

Nazri said the Ayer Keroh stop would be the most important station.

"Malacca is an iconic tourist destination. This stop will further boost tourism in the state and the country,” he said.

According to the MoU, both governments will take responsibility for developing, constructing and maintaining the civil infrastructure and stations within their own countries, which will be undertaken by MyHSR Corporation and the Land Transport Authority in Malaysia and Singapore respectively.

All stations will also be designed to integrate with local public transport systems to ensure seamless connectivity, with the HSR trains running at a top speed of more than 300kph.

On another matter, Nazri said the authorities should not bow to pressure from taxi drivers after it was reported about 25 per cent of them would not support the government if ride-hailing applications Uber and Grab were approved.

"We cannot only take into account what the taxi drivers want. We must think of what the people want,” he said.

"The consumers outnumber the drivers by millions. How can you deny the rights of the consumers?”

Taxi drivers have been protesting the government’s plan to legalise and regulate the ride-hailing service.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri said the Transformation Plan of the Land Public Transport Commission, which also touched on the Uber and Grab issue, would be tabled in Cabinet soon.