Passenger service on the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System still targets February 2027. Transport Minister Anthony Loke said so at JB Sentral on 8 October 2026, in coverage by Berita Harian. The exact opening date still needs approvals. The January 2027 engineering target has a buffer. This Saturday you still cross at Woodlands or Tuas. You still walk from JB Sentral to City Square.
What Loke put on the record at JB Sentral
Design ridership is about 40,000 passengers a day in 2027. Bukit Chagar station sits on the Johor side. The design ride to Woodlands North is about five minutes once trains run. A bus hub is planned at Jalan Jim Quee. Pedestrian links will tie the station to the old town. A pedestrian bridge will connect KTM Komuter to RTS. BAS.MY fleet plans move from 162 to 230 buses as the feeder network expands.
That five-minute Woodlands North ride starts when passenger service opens, expected February 2027. Until then the weekday Causeway queue toward Singapore at dawn is still the labour commute, and the Saturday CIQ walk is still the leisure one. Loke spoke at JB Sentral, the station residents already use, which is the honest picture of 2026.
What a Saturday in bandar looks like until trains run
If you live in Tebrau, Johor Jaya, or Skudai, Saturday grocery and cinema still means AEON, Paradigm, or Southkey. Those clocks live on /mall-hours. RTS does not change that loop in 2026. Bandar residents already walk Jalan Wong Ah Fook. City Square hours stay 10:00 to 22:00 on /city-square-hours.
Singapore weekend shoppers who type JB malls from Causeway still clear CIQ, then walk to City Square or Komtar, or Grab to KSL, Paradigm, and Mid Valley Southkey. The station is a 2027 object. Write it that way on a 2026 Saturday.
The RM60 million Sentral link
The Edge Malaysia on 29 October 2026, in the Allgreen City Square briefing, described a RM60 million Bukit Chagar-JB Sentral link bridge on a roughly 12-month programme. That bridge is how a future RTS passenger reaches the mall without a Grab. Until it opens, the walk from JB Sentral is the one that already exists. Allgreen's mall rebuild through Q4 2027 sits beside that future link. The mall stays open. Full rebuild numbers live on the City Square rebuild article.
Bagi penduduk Taman Pelangi dan bandar, stesen RTS di Bukit Chagar masih tarikh 2027. Sabtu ini bas BAS.MY, kereta, atau jalan kaki dari JB Sentral. Hub bas dirancang di Jalan Jim Quee. Jambatan pejalan kaki KTM Komuter ke RTS ada dalam rancangan Loke. Armada BAS.MY 162 ke 230 bas. Semua itu feeder, bukan ganti mall Tebrau.
Christmas mall atriums for 2026 were still unpublished on Paradigm, Southkey, and City Square on 9 November 2026. RTS is the city-scale change worth bookmarking. Brick-Tacular Holiday at LEGOLAND, 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, is the dated park programme already on an official page, at /events/brick-tacular-holiday-legoland-2026.
Practical details
- Passenger service: expected February 2027, subject to approvals
- Briefing: Transport Minister Anthony Loke, JB Sentral, 8 October 2026, Berita Harian
- Design ridership: about 40,000 a day in 2027
- Johor station: Bukit Chagar, with a planned bus hub at Jalan Jim Quee
- Singapore station: Woodlands North, design ride about five minutes
- Mall walk today: JB Sentral to City Square, 10:00 to 22:00
- Press on the Sentral link: The Edge Malaysia, 29 October 2026, RM60 million, about 12 months
