This is the view of experts who spoke to the Straits Times (ST).
Other analysts told the ST that the HSR and another project, the Rapid Transit System which will connect Singapore and Johor Baru, showed that Malaysia-Singapore ties were today about mutual benefit, not rivalry.
Technical experts said the tough part of the project would be drafting the tender documents and contracts before 2021 and finalising the alignment of the 350km route.
The HSR agreement, signed by both governments in Putrajaya on Tuesday, is expected to reduce travel time between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to 90 minutes, compared with four hours by car.
About 335km of the HSR line will be in Malaysia, with the remaining 15km in Singapore. The line will be linked across the Johor Strait by a 25m-high bridge near the Second Link.
Drafting the tender documents for the HSR will be time-consuming as the project is new to both governments, according to Professor Lee Der Horng, a transport researcher at the National University of Singapore.
However, he said, once the tender was awarded, the actual construction could be done within three years, with another one to two years for testing the line and ironing out bugs and kinks.
Both countries are due to award a tender jointly for a development partner to give operational, technical and procurement advice.
Another tender would be called in the fourth quarter of next year for a company to design, build, finance and maintain rail assets and trains, said the ST report.
Noting the alignment in Malaysia had not been finalised yet, SIM University economist Walter Theseira said the speed of the project would depend on such factors as environmental concerns and land acquisition.
SIM University senior lecturer Park Byung Joon told the ST if plans and designs for the lines were finalised quickly, the HSR could be built in as little as two years.
“The 10-year schedule is ambitious but achievable,” he was quoted as saying
Apart from the HSR, another bridge near the Causeway will be built for a separate Rapid Transit System (RTS), which will connect the Thomson-East Coast MRT line in Singapore to Johor Baru.
The ST report quoted political observers as saying the HSR and RTS projects reflected the extent to which Singapore-Malaysia ties had overcome their rocky past.
“The Najib Razak-Lee Hsien Loong period can be described as the golden years of bilateral relations so far,” said ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute research fellow Norshahril Saat.
Dr Norshahril was quoted by the ST as saying: “Singapore- Malaysia relations today are not about rivalry, enmity and hostility, but more on cooperation and mutual benefit.”