China-Laos railway project brings Lao, Chinese people closer
An aerial view from the China-Laos border to the capital Vientiane reveals a ruled, comparatively straight line embedded into northern Laos, laid among the foothills, crossing gullies, rivers and fields, and with small arcs bypassing villages. It’s the China-Laos railway project, a landmark construction project in ...
Zhang Jianhua, Wang Shan
Lao gov’t gives green light to PetroTrade for Laos-Vietnam railway development
The Lao government has entrusted and given the right to the Petroleum Trading Lao Public Company (PetroTrade) to conduct a feasibility study on the Laos-Vietnam Railway Project, from Thakhaek district in Khammuan province, Laos, to the Vietnamese border. The Ministry of Planning and Investment, on behalf ...
Japanese firm replaces Chinese as financial partner in railway project
Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation will act as financial partner for the Yangon Central Railway Station Development Project, replacing China’s Sino Great Wall as part of a consortium selected to implement the project, according to U Ba Myint, Managing Director of Myanma Railways. “Sumitomo approached us as a ...
Thina Ko Ko
Vietnam should forget about high speed railway until 2030
An expensive high-speed railway is a nice dream, but let’s get real and build better roads between provinces first. On a visit to California, I discovered that the western U.S. state had kept pending a high speed rail proposal since 1996 due to funding cuts made ...
Huynh The Du
Vietnam may spend 26 bln USD building North-South high-speed railway
Construction of Vietnam’s North-South high-speed railway, which allows passengers to travel between capital Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in about eight hours, will cost about 26 billion U.S. dollars, local media reported on Wednesday. Citing analysis by experts from Germany and the Netherlands, the Ministry ...
Cambodia, Thailand reconnect a Cold War-cut link
Tourists, gamblers, traders and others can now travel by train between Bangkok and the Thai-Cambodian border for the first time since tracks were cut 45 years ago at the end of the US-Vietnam War. The new rail link ends one of the last infrastructural disruptions caused ...
Richard S. Ehrlich
High-speed rail project mired in land issues
The high-speed train project to link up three major airports is still mired in land expropriation and eviction problems concerning 20% of the land required for construction despite it being expected to begin operation in five years. If the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) fails to ...
China-Laos Railway opens new horizons for fruit growers in Southwest China’s Yunnan
As the section of the China-Laos Railway that is within Chinese territory, the Yuxi-Mohan railway will serve as a significant link for China to reach land-locked Laos. In addition to helping promote the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA), the railway will also greatly benefit the local economy and ...
Zhang Dan in Yuxi
All aboard Thailand’s decentralization train
Thailand has made scant progress over the past three decades in spreading power and national budgets outside of the capital Bangkok, a core issue behind the nation’s yawning wealth divide. But now there is a slim hope that the decentralization process has begun, and it has ...
Peter Janssen
Thailand, Cambodia ready to relaunch rail link
Thailand looks set to re-establish a rail link with Cambodia 45 years after the two countries terminated cross-border train service. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Cambodian Premier Hun Sen will will preside over a ceremony to reopen the track connecting Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo with Cambodia’s ...
