News: December 2023

Welcome to the final edition of Southeast Asia Railway news for 2023. I’m in Bangkok researching articles about urban railways for Future Southeast Asia. I will visit Hua Hin next month to have a look at the new railway station and see how much faster it is to get there from Bangkok.

I look forward to bringing more news about the railways of Southeast Asia in 2024!

News

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Proposed light rail line to link SAI to Siem Reap town centre

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Medan to Rantau Prapat by train (North Sumatra)

My review of the longest train trip you can take from Medan.

• Passenger trips on Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway hit 1 million-mark

• Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed railway

I started a fact sheet to keep track of the proposed extension of the high-speed railway to Surabaya.

🇱🇦 Laos

• High-speed rail linking Nong Khai, Vientiane expected to complete in 2028

• China-Laos Railway's Laos section breaks daily record with over 10,000 passengers

• China-Laos Railway records over 100,000 cross-border passengers

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• There has been lots of news about the proposed restart of the KL-Singapore high-speed railway project. There was also news that Kuala Lumpur to Singapore is the busiest international airline route. This is a city pair that is ideal for a high-speed railway.

Here is the pick of the news items:

- Anwar's govt contemplates reviving HSR with an eye on substantial cost reduction

"The government will proceed with the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) if it could substantially lower the cost, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim."

- MyHSR Corp to request for proposals for HSR project after Jan 15, 2024

- As Malaysia’s next king takes up Singapore high-speed rail cause, is it a case of too costly, too late?

• Malaysia mulls over flat RM5 one-way fare for citizens on JB-Woodlands train

• King officiates installation of first ECRL track near Kuantan

"The RM50 billion mega project, inaugurated on Aug 9, 2017, is scheduled to start operating in January 2027."

• ECRL to be first railway in Southeast Asia to have 4G link on trains

🇲🇲 Myanmar

• MR resumes YGN-MDY daily train services from 26 Dec

🇵🇭 Philippines

• Bicol Express: Naga-Legazpi rail line reopens

• DOTr seeks funders for rail projects after China loans withdrawn

• Tagum-Davao-Digos segment of railway project to be deliberated again

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Louis Chua asks Transport Ministry to consider continuing Shuttle Tebrau to JB after RTS Link starts operations

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Three-airport rail contract being revised

"CP-led consortium seeks changes to payment terms because of impact of pandemic."

• PHOTO SPECIAL: New Hua Hin train station opens

• Work continues to further reduce travel time to Hua Hin and along the new Southern rail line

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Special Train to the Gia Lam Train Factory (Hanoi Creative Design Festival 2023)

I happened to be in Hanoi while this art festival was held at the old train factory. There was even a special scheduled train for the event.

• Vietnam, China to enhance railway connectivity under Belt Road Initiative

• Viet Nam seeks Japan's ODA for North-South high-speed railway project

• Ministry to start construction on two priority sections of north-south high speed railway before 2030

• The Vietage expands: New luxury rail journey between Nha Trang and Quy Nhon

• By train through Vietnam - From Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City | DW Documentary