Travellers are advised to plan their journey if they are travelling via Woodlands Checkpoint on Thursday

Travellers are advised to plan their journey if they are travelling via Woodlands Checkpoint on Thursday (13 December) from 12 am to 1 am.

The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a press release on Tuesday (11 December) it is aware that the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) & Johor Bahru (JB) Sentral will be conducting an exercise at BSI CIQ Complex and JB Sentral Railway Station during this period.

The BSI CIQ Complex and JB Sentral Railway Station will be temporarily closed until the exercise concludes, it noted.

The authority then noted that those who urgently need to travel using the land checkpoints may wish to consider using the Tuas Checkpoint instead.

The Malaysian Police stated in a press release that an annual evacuation exercise will be conducted between 12am and 2am on Thursday.

It said that this is an annual evacuation exercise to ensure that the relevant government agencies are prepared for any possibility, adding that as many as 150 personnel will be involved in the emergency preparedness exercise.

In an interview with local news agency Bernama, JB South District police chief ACP Shahurinain Jais said that the evacuation exercise has been conducted annually since 2011 to ensure that relevant government agencies are prepared for emergency situations.

An average of 295,731 people use the two land crossings between Malaysia and Singapore daily, according to The Star. However, the authority stated in press release earlier that can expect higher traffic and delays at both Woodlands and Tuas Checkpoints until the end of the year due to the December school holidays.