China plans SE Asia rail links

 

 

China is planning high-speed rail links with its Southeast Asian neighbors, namely, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, and further expand its economic and strategic regional influence.

China's national rail network, which is already the world's biggest, will reach 120,000 km by 2020. Sixty percent of the railway lines will be located in the western regions, which have historically lagged the coastal east on most development indicators.
In two months, work will begin on a 1,920-km high-speed rail line connecting south-western Yunnan province with Yangon in Myanmar, with trains running at over 200 km/h, the official China Daily reported on Monday.
Studies were also under way to link Yunnan's capital Kunming with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, the daily quoted Wang Mengshu, one of China's leading railway consultants, as saying.
In August, China's Ministry of Railways also sent a team to Thailand to explore investing in a $25.6 billion, 240-km high-speed railway and rail network.
Wang had earlier said that the Southeast Asian network could be completed as early as 2020.
Authorities in Beijing hope the investment in Southeast Asia will also ease anxieties among its ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) neighbors over the impact of China's rising economic influence.

source: Press tv

Opening of Cambodia Railroad Puts Pan-Asian Railway Firmly on Track

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA, Oct 22, 2010 (Washington Bangla Radio / ADB) - The first segment of a new international standard railroad officially opened in Cambodia today, a major step towards the creation of a long-awaited Pan-Asian railroad.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing $84 million in support of the reconstruction and repair of 650 kilometers (404 miles) of rail stretching from Cambodia's border with Thailand, through the capital city of Phnom Penh, and southward to Sihanoukville, the country's main seaport.
The Government of Australia is providing an additional $21.5 million in support of the $141 million project.
Freight rail service has commenced along a 120 kilometer (75 mile) stretch of rail between Phnom Penh and Touk Meas, near the Vietnamese border. The entire rail line is scheduled to be operational by 2013.
"We are on the cusp of a contiguous Iron Silk Road stretching from Singapore to Scotland," said Kunio Senga, Director General of ADB's Southeast Asia Department. "This possibility has been talked about for decades, but today the dream has finally taken a big step toward becoming reality."
Decades of conflict have left Cambodia's railroad in serious disrepair, with rail traffic slowly declining to a trickle.

source: Washingtonbanglaradio