The foreign ministers of the countries of ASEAN and their dialogue partners, including China, meet in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Back in 2006, ASEAN and its neighbors set a goal to create a seamless rail network, linking China to Singapore at the southern tip of continental Southeast Asia, an idea mooted during colonial times. Today, that vision is making progress. Rian Maelzer reports from Vientiane.
Opening of the fast rail service from Kunming in southern China down to the Lao capital Vientiane last year was a significant step toward linking southern China to Singapore by rail. But it’s a rather piecemeal process.
RIAN MAELZER, Vientiane “A continuous train service linking Bangkok to Laos began to operate only a few days ago, but it’s still a slow trundle. And the train ends here at a station outside Vientiane, about 16 km from the Laos-China Railway terminal.”
But with Chinese knowhow, Thailand is building a high-speed railway that will eventually link to Laos. Meanwhile, Malaysia already has an electrified line running from the border with Singapore to the border with Thailand. And a Chinese company is building the East Coast Rail Link or ECRL from the west coast up to near the southeastern border of Thailand. On a recent visit to Malaysia, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said the countries would look at connecting the ECRL to the Pan-Asian rail corridor.
LI QIANG Chinese Premier “That can better promote the construction of new international land-sea trade routes, and play a greater role in enhancing regional connectivity and deepening ASEAN community building.”
Another milestone has seen the recent launch of a freight service directly from the Malaysian capital to Chongqing in China’s Sichuan province.
ANTHONY LOKE, Malaysian Transport Minister “The cost will be lower by about 20 per cent. And second and more important is the time consumed. So, if we can cut by about one week, then that makes a lot of difference. Definitely it will help in improving our competitiveness.”
It may not be a coordinated process, but bit by bit, the vision of a seamless rail link from China to Singapore is moving closer to becoming a reality. Rian Maelzer, CGTN, Vientiane.
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