Singapore’s former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong formally agreed to the joint project in February 2013, with the HSR originally expected to be completed by the year of 2026.

The 2018 Malaysian general election resulted in the defeat of Najib Razak, with his successor Mahathir Mohamad initially announcing that the project would be scrapped.

[3] Malaysia subsequently underwent a second change in government in the aftermath of the 2020 political crisis, with the Perikatan Nasional coalition coming to power and Muhyiddin Yassin becoming prime minister.

[5][6] The proposed HSR line is 350 km long and is expected to reduce travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to 90 minutes.

[7] In 2006, YTL Corporation, operator of the Express Rail Link in Kuala Lumpur, revived the proposal, with a projected speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).

[8] At the meeting, Singapore and Malaysia have announced that the high-speed rail proposal would be finalised by end of 2014 with a targeted completion date of 2020.

According to the Leaders' Retreat which was held on 7 April 2014, the possible locations for the high-speed rail terminus was narrowed down to Tuas West, Jurong East or the Downtown Core.

[12][13] On 6 February 2015, the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia (JMCIM) released a press statement stating that Singapore had announced Jurong East as the final location for the high-speed rail terminus.

[17] On 7 October 2015, the LTA and SPAD jointly announced the launch of a "market sensing exercise" on the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail project.

The Government of Singapore has made the second large acquisition of land for the project by requiring Raffles Country Club to vacate its plot as the site offers the "most suitable location" to run the HSR tracks after the bridge crossing and to place the tunnel portal leading to the tunnels that would take the HSR to the Jurong East terminus.

The site is expected to be vacated by 31 July 2018, to be used for HSR crossover tracks and a siding facility to temporarily house a train near the border for safety or operational reasons.

They would provide management support, technical advice on systems and operations, develop safety standards and help prepare tender documents for the joint project team of LTA and MyHSR.

[31] By late May 2018, Mahathir confirmed that Malaysia would scrap the project, citing its high construction costs and downplaying its benefits.

[32] However, he appeared to backtrack on earlier statements during an official visit to Japan, commenting that the project was merely postponed until Malaysia was in better financial conditions, further reaffirming the peninsula's need for High-Speed Rail in the future.

[33] Among revisions being explored to reduce costs, was to align the route to the existing meter gauge Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) line to allow trains to run at 200 km/h with some upgrades in order to trim travel time to 2 hours and 10 minutes and lay a standard gauge track in parallel, with a fork running to Jurong East so that bilateral agreement is not violated.

[37] In April 2020, UBS argued that the coronavirus could make people switch from air travel to high speed rail, thus solidifying the case for the HSR.

[48] Some Malaysian states, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan, which would have the line going through them had expressed that the cancellation would impact on their local economies and development plans.

[51] Singapore Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung subsequently revealed in a parliamentary session that the "main concern" leading to the termination of the project was Malaysia's suggestion to remove the assets company AssetsCo, which would have been a "best-in-class industry player" appointed through an open tender, to provide the means to run and operate the network.

[62] On 29 November 2021, at the launch of the Malaysia–Singapore land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme, Malaysian prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob suggested reviving discussions of the terminated HSR project.

The domestic HSR was claimed to be essential for enhancing the connection between Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, despite being criticized as less feasible and viable by the opposition.

[65] On 2 March 2022, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, chairman of the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN), expressed support for the revival of the project.

[72] On 11 January 2024, the group consisted of East Japan Railway and Sumitomo reportedly dropped out of their bid, leaving local firms seeking cooperation with Chinese and European companies.