SINGAPORE: Opening the delayed Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link around holiday periods could put its passenger-handling arrangements to an early test, transport experts said on Friday (Oct 2), pointing to possible crowd management issues.

An exact opening date has not been announced, but the experts warned that operations beyond the train systems must be ready to welcome passengers in large numbers.

“If it opens immediately before the holiday, I would want to see the whole passenger journey tested under peak-demand conditions, not just the trains,” said Professor Lee Der-Horng, a fellow of Singapore’s Academy of Engineering.

Because passengers will clear immigration for both countries at their departure station, his concern extends to how quickly people can move through ticketing, clearance and boarding.

“Trains could have available capacity while queues are building up elsewhere in the station,” he said.

Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow said the service will open before Hari Raya Puasa, which falls on Mar 10. Chinese New Year falls on Feb 6 and 7.

Prof Lee cautioned that safety certification does not guarantee smooth operations during a holiday surge. He said he hoped to see realistic crowd-management rehearsals, sufficient staffing and a jointly rehearsed response to service interruptions.

Ideally, the service should have run for some time before a holiday peak so that staff and passengers are familiar with the arrangements, he added.

Capacity can be raised by running trains more often, but authorities are unlikely to try that soon after opening, he said. If they keep to the tried-and-tested peak capacity of up to 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction, any crowd that builds up will fall to station managers.

“Passengers wi...