Network maintenance during off-peak hours at JB checkpoint to affect border crossers from Feb 27

SINGAPORE - The Malaysian border control agency has announced that network system maintenance will take place at the Johor Bahru checkpoint building during the off-peak hours of 12.30am to 3.30am from Feb 27 to March 14.

Immigration clearance is anticipated to experience disruptions during this period.

Disruptions are expected for traveller and vehicle inspections during the hours when the work is being conducted, said the Malaysia Border Control & Protection Agency (AKPS) for the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) on Feb 25.

During those off-peak hours, the BSI typically handles travellers from Woodlands Checkpoint crossing the Causeway in cars, motorcycles, and public transport, including factory bus services.

Only

the QR code clearance lanes

for motorcyclists using the MyNIISEe (National Integrated Immigration System) and MyBorderPass apps will not be affected, said the agency.

The works are being carried out by the Public Works Department (JKR) and BSI’s facility management.

To expedite border checks and immigration clearance, the agency urged travelllers to ensure their travel documents are in order, their Touch ‘N Go cards have sufficient balance for checkpoint road charges, and their Malaysia Digital Arrival Cards are filled out.

The official announcement comes after

a system failure that disabled all autogates at the BSI checkpoint

during the early hours of Feb 25, requiring heavy vehicles to undergo manual immigration clearances and disrupting thousands of commuters working in Singapore.

The border agency had announced server maintenance works involving the MyNIISe application and egates, overnight from Feb 24 until 2am on Feb 25, a day before the system failure.

A Malaysian Home Ministry official had reportedly attributed the failure to an expected network switch migration, which was expected to be carried out at midnight but led to an extended outage from 3am to 6.30am.

A system failure for autogates used by travellers on public transport had also occurred earlier during a weekend in January, with the border control agency urging eligible foreign travellers to use MyNIISe for quicker immigration clearance.