On 15 July that year, the Johor Mentri Besar Muhyiddin Yassin said he "welcomed" the project, but the Malaysian federal government would have to study and evaluate the proposal.

[21] The cross-border project was aimed to address traffic congestion on the Johor–Singapore Causeway while boosting tourism in Johor.

The RTS would link Tanjung Puteri in Johor Bahru and Woodlands in Singapore, aiming to ease traffic congestion on the Johor–Singapore Causeway and enhance connectivity between the two countries.

[29] A tender was called in November 2011 to conduct design and engineering study on the RTS link, which aimed to determine the technical parameters and options for the alignment and proposals for the system.

Its chairman Hasni Mohammad stated that Singapore had given no indication of the final alignment of the link from a total of three options.

[33] This drew a response from Singapore's Ministry of Transport which replied that they were unable to finalise the alignment of the crossing as there was no confirmation of the location of Malaysia's terminus.

[36][37] A memorandum of understanding between SMRT Corporation and Prasarana Malaysia was signed in September 2017 to form a joint venture company to operate the link.

[40] However, in mid-July 2018, Singapore's transport minister Khaw Boon Wan said in Parliament that it had not received any official communication from the new Malaysian government despite Loke's comments.

A working paper on the project was to be presented to the cabinet the joint operating company set up upon its approval.

[41][42] On 14 January 2019, Singapore's Khaw confirmed that the project was not progressing well, with Malaysia missing deadlines that were set in the bilateral meeting in 2018.

[35] On 21 May, the project was suspended for six months until 30 September, with Malaysia compensating Singapore more than $600,000 of abortive costs incurred.

[44] On 28 September, Malaysia further extended the suspension to 31 October, which Singapore acceded to without claiming compensation, but reserving its right to do so after the date.

[45][46] On 11 October 2019, Malaysia announced in its budget that it would proceed with the project with Singapore, although with significant financial cuts.

Some of the proposals included involving the developers/owners of the Bukit Chagar land to waive land costs and using a light rail system similar to the Ampang LRT line instead of the heavy rail Thomson–East Coast MRT line system to reduce costs.

[49][50] In the aftermath of the 2020 Malaysian political crisis, a second change of government resulted in Muhyiddin Yassin becoming prime minister in March 2020.

[52] On 21 July 2020, Malaysia's transport minister Wee Ka Siong stated that construction was due to begin in January 2021 with targeted completion in 2026.

The planned depot in Mandai would also be relocated to Johor Bahru, with construction cost borne by Malaysia.

[62] Works on Bukit Chagar station began on 22 November 2020, coinciding with the birthday of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar.

[66][67] Its construction began on 22 January 2021 in a groundbreaking ceremony attended by Singapore's transport minister Ong Ye Kung.

[68] On 13 October 2018, it was reported that Singapore's Land Transport Authority has called for tender for the construction of a 1.1 km tunnel and overhead bridge to Johor in end-September 2018.