Full steam ahead for new rail link in south-east Asia

By Elaine Moore in Phnom Penh


Plans for a long discussed rail network to link China to six south-east Asian countries are advancing as critical gaps are filled in Cambodia.

An antiquated line to Vietnam built by the French a century ago is at present China's only rail link to the region, but officials began plotting the new network in 1995 to extend the French connection through various national lines all the way to Singapore, the southern tip of mainland south-east Asia.

The network is expected to strengthen economic ties by reducing transport costs and making travel more convenient. A new trade agreement came into effect in January slashing tariffs on most goods exported between China and members of the Association of South East Asian Nations.

The Asian Development Bank recently agreed to extend a second $42m loan for the $141m reconstruction of Cambodia's rail network. Australia and Malaysia have also advanced funding.

Cambodia's rail network collapsed over decades of war, neglect and vandalism. Phnom Penh, the capital, lacks a functioning train station. In the north-west, locals ride along the tracks on bamboo platforms balanced on wheels.

More than 650km of track is to be renovated, including a 48km section running west to Thailand that will then connect Cambodia onward to Malaysia and Singapore. The first segment of renovated track, between Phnom Penh and Touk Meas on the coast near Vietnam, is to open to freight trains late this year.

The other segments are to be finished by 2013.

The national network will be operated by Toll Holdings, an Australian company, and Royal Group, a local company.

Cambodia's roads often become waterlogged and impassable during the rainy season, so Senaka Fernando, the chairman of the British Business Association of Cambodia, welcomed the railway project's potential to improve transport.

The next project will be to fill the gap between the Cambodia-Singapore and Vietnam-China lines.

A feasibility study is under way. Preliminary estimates put the cost at $600m-$700m.