High speed train will not help Laos to be developped fast and will not help Laotian to be out from proverty. Laos need regular diesel fuel train or electric train for export and import the goods ( products) from the factory to the harbor and the warehouse and to the market only .
No need high speed train or luxury train in Laos.
NO need high speed train. Need only regular transportation train.
Overview of the missing links (in yellow) the Kunming-Singapore Railway.
The Kunming–Singapore Railway refers to a planned network ofrailways that would connect China, Singapore and all the countries of mainland Southeast Asia. The concept originated with British andFrench imperialists, who sought to link the railways they had built insouthwest China, Indochina and Malaya. International conflicts in the 20th century kept regional railways fragmented. In October 2006, the idea was formally revived in the Trans-Asian Railway Network Agreement signed by 18 Asian and Eurasian countries, incorporated the Kunming-Singapore Railway into the Trans Asian Railways.
The proposed network consists of three main routes from Kunming,China to Bangkok, Thailand: the Eastern Route via Vietnam andCambodia; the Central Route via Laos, and the Western Route viaMyanmar. The southern half of network from Bangkok to Singapore has long been operational, though a high-speed line has been proposed.[2]
Savannakhet–Lao Bao Railway, 220 km, electrified double track, high-speed railway from Savannakhet on the border with Thailand to Lao Bao on the border with Vietnam. The project costs $4 billion and is being built by the Giant Consolidated of Malaysia.[12] A ground breaking ceremony was held in Ban Naxai on December 18, 2013.[13] This line will also be extended to the Port of Danang in Vietnam, and give landlocked Laos an outlet to the South China Sea.[13]
In Cambodia
The diconnected rail link from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City is being reconsidered. The cost for construction is estimated around $600 million and the Chinese government will fund most proportion of construction. The Cambodian government will deal with the relocation of people who will be affected by the proposed new railway construction.
The Central Route including the Bangkok to Singapore section will be 3,900 kilometres (2,400 mi) in length.[3] When completed, a trip from Kunming to Singapore would take 10 hours by rail on the Central Route (compared to 72 hours from Vientiane to Singapore in April 2011).[3][14][15][16] The line will be used to transport both passengers and cargo.[4][17]
The Central Route consists of the following sections:
Yuxi–Mohan Railway, 503 km standard gauge railway from Yuxi to Mohan at the border with Laos (under planning). This line was originally planned to begin construction by the end of 2010, but has been delayed. Construction of a railway logistics hub in Mohan began in early 2011.[18]
In Laos
Boten-Vientane Railway, 421 km (262 mi) standard gauge from Boten on the border with China, to Vientane, on the border with Thailand. This line was originally planned as a high-speed rail joint-venture between the Laotian government and the China Railway Corporation, the Chinese state rail operator, and set to begin construction on April 25, 2011 but was delayed due to a corruption scandal that removed the Chinese railway minister, Liu Zhijun from office.[1][3] The Laotian government then became the sole investor in the project, which is funded with a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China that will cover 70% of the project's cost of $7 billion.[19][20][21] The project was downgraded to a conventional speed railway with a maximum speed of 160 km/h instead of 200 km/h.[20] As the terrain in Laos is mountainous, 76 bridges and 154 tunnelswill need to be built.[20] Unexploded bombs that have been dropped during the Vietnam War will have to be removed.[18][4]
The loan finance arrangement for this line has been criticized by economists in the West as too expensive for Laos.[22] There is also controversy over villagers whose houses will have to be moved to accommodate the new railway line. One village, Bopiat in northern Laos, has already been moved once to allow the construction of acasino.[21][23] The Lao parliament approved the project in October 2012, but the project not proceeded to construction as the Chinese state lender has been waiting since July 2013 for the Thai legislature to approve funding for the Thailand section of the railway line before going ahead with funding for the Laos project.
In Thailand
Bangkok-Nong Khai Railway, a high-speed railway from Bangkok to Nong Khai on the border with Laos (under planning).
Bangkok-Hat Yai / Padang Besar Railway, a high-speed railway from Bangkok to Hat Yai and Padang Besar, near the border with Malaysia (under planning).
Planning for these lines began during the administration of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of the Democratic Party, which agreed to borrow $400 million from China to purchase materials and expertise, and build one high speed line to Nong Khai Province to the north and another to the Padang Basar on the Malaysian border to the south.[24] When Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of the Puea Thai Party took office in August 2011, the Thai government initially scaled back those plans and proposed shorter lines that connected Thai cities but did not reach international frontiers.[24] Supoj Sablorm, the secretary of the Thailand Transport Ministry, explained that Thailand was not in a rush to build a high-speed rail line to Laos because the Chinese-backed project in Laos had been delayed to beyond 2014.[24] A year later in August 2012, the Thai government announced the plans to build four high-speed rail lines, including extensions to Nong Khai and Hat Yai by 2022.[25] In October 2013, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, on a visit to Thailand, promoted Chinese high-speed rail technology and offered loan packages for high-speed rail construction that are partially repayable with rice and rubber.[26]
On November 19, 2013, the Thai Senate passed a bill that authorizes the government to borrow $69.5 billion to fund high-speed rail and other infrastructure projects in Thailand without going through the annual government budgeting process.[27] The opposition Democratic Party challenged the spending bill in court and a judge expressed doubt about the necessity of high-speed rail for Thailand.[28] The ensuing political protests in Bangkok, which began in December 2013 and continued through February 2014, has paralyzed the Thai government and prevented further decision-making of the rail project.
Dali–Ruili Railway, from Dali to Ruili on the border with Myanmar (under construction since 2011).
In Myanmar
Kunming–Yangon High-Speed Railway (Myanmar section), from Muse on the border with China to Yangon with maximum train speeds of 170-200 km/h. In late November 2010, Chinese state media reported that the railway would begin construction in about two months.[29] But in March 2011, the Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming stated that the project was delayed due to the first elections in Myanmar in 20 years and differences in the railway gauge of the two countries.[30] He explained the Chinese rail developers were waiting for the new cabinet in Myanmar to form and expressed hope that work on the line would begin before the end of 2011.[30]
Yangon-Myitkyina Railway, from Yangon to Myitkyina, near the border with China (existing railway). In December 2013, the Myanmar government began to discuss the upgrade of the existing Yangon-Myitkyina Railway with the Asian Development Bank and the government of South Korea.[31]
Yangon-Mandalay Railway, from Yangon to Mandalay (existing railway). In December 2013, Japanese media reported that the Myanmar and Japanese governments had reached an agreement to upgrade this line.[31]
Yangon-Bangkok Railway. In May 2012, the Railway Minister Aung Min of Myanmar announced that a feasibility study would be undertaken to rebuild the 105-km stretch of the Thai-Burma Railway from the Three Pagoda Pass to the Thai border.[32] The railway could be reopened, he said, with international assistance and promote development in the region and peace with ethnic Shan and Karen rebels in the border areas.[32]