Southeast Asian countries approve trans-Asia railway project

Southeast Asian countries approve trans-Asia railway project

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Southeast Asian countries have unanimously
accepted a proposal to develop a 5,500-kilometer (3,437-mile)
transAsia Railway linking eight countries, according to a report
Sunday.

Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik was quoted by the New Sunday
Times newspaper as saying transport ministers from the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently met in
Brunei and accepted the Malaysian proposal.

The line linking Singapore to the southwestern Chinese city of
Kunming was proposed by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1995.
Total cost is estimated at US$2.5 billion.

Ling said Mahathir would submit the proposal at international
conferences involving ASEAN countries to get further feedback for
the project.

The railway would link Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand,
Cambodia, Vietnam and Kunming. There would also be branches to
Vientiane in Laos, the port of Bung Anh in Vietnam and to
Myanmar.

All expect China are members of ASEAN.

In late September Ling said ASEAN leaders would debate the
plan at their Singapore summit in November.

If all concerned accepted the recommendations, preliminary
work would start soon and the whole project was expected to be
completed by 2006, he added.

Ling had also said all eight countries use the same gauge
track. He forecast an economic boom in areas surrounding the new
line, adding: "This will be very good for ASEAN."

Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines, also members of ASEAN,
are not involved in the project.