The file photo shows a model of a high-speed train. [Photo: Xinhua]

A group of high-ranking Chinese railway officials kicked off their tour to Malaysia vying for a bid for a high-speed railway project between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The delegation led by Sheng Guangzu, the General manager of China Railway Corporation, consists of senior officials from a number of state-owned railway giants and investment companies as well as financial institutions in China including China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC Corporation Limited), China Communication Construction Company and the Export-Import Bank of China.

China has shown huge interest in the KL-Singapore railway project and will go all out to win the deal, according to Singapore local media report.

The Chinese delegation is expected to meet Malaysian officials from its transport and railway authority.

The high-speed railway is designed to cover a distance of 356.1 kilometers, in which the section in Malaysia is as long as 326.1 kilometers, taking up more than 90 percent of the entire length, according to the project plan.

Once the railway is put into operation, the speed of the trains will reach as high as 350 kilometers per hour, and will cut the travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore from six hours to around four and a half hours.

Malaysian said earlier this year that China and Malaysia will probably sign a memorandum on the KL-Singapore high-speed railway project in the middle of 2016 through an opening bid, according to a report from China Business Journal.

Chinese companies running for the bid are expected to face a challenge from a Japanese consortium consisting of Japanese companies and institutions.

Business insiders with China Railway Corporation said they are not sure about the final result of the bid.

Early in March, some Japanese high-level company representatives and officials at the Japanese embassy in Kuala Lumpur showed huge interest in the KL-Singapore project. Ota Akihiro, Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism visited Malaysian to sell their technology edge last August.

Chinese premier Li Keqiang expressed China's interest in participating in the construction of the KL-Singapore railway during his meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak at the end of last year.