RAIL PROJECT ON TRACK FOR TRANS-ASIAN XPANSION

       For decades, travel and trade by rail in Thailand has been hemmed in by the politics and conflicts of its neighbours. Communist take-overs that resulted in a detente with Laos and civil wars in Cambodia, and a military junta in Burma virtually isolated the Kingdom from the rest of Asia.
       Access is still limited, but peace and the opening up of Cambodia have cleared the way for completion of one of the region's greatest infrastructure projects, the TransAsia Railway.
       The pan-Asian network uses existing and new rail lines to connect 28 countries across Asia with the Middle East and Western Europe through an agreement struck by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
       However, plans to finally complete the line have hit a series of cost hurdles in Cambodia, according to one soon to be completed Chinese study, and would require additional funding, possibly from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
       Sources close to the Cambodian government said the study would also finalise the long awaited route, travelling 255km east from near the capital Phnom Penh to the Vietnamese border at a cost of US$500-600 million (17.1 billion baht).
       It would also complete the narrow gauge link between Singapore and Kunming.
       "Neither will want to go it alone at that price," the government source said."If it goes ahead it will have to find additional funding, and given that it will benefit the entire region it might find support from the ADB or the World Bank."
       The final cost was due primarily to the high numbers of bridges that would have to be built to enable safe passage across the Mekong Delta and the river's many tributaries.
       According to a Preliminary Technical Study Report, seen by Spectrum , a 1,000-metre bridge crossing the Mekong River and a 1,500-metre bridge over the Tonle Sap would be the big ticket items, with a combined cost of $262 million. The government source also said at least another $120 million would have to be spent on smaller bridges along the line.
       The line is expected to head north from a junction to be built at Bat Doeng, just outside the capital on the existing line that stretches from Phnom Penh to the Thai border.
       The new line crosses the Tonle Sap and heads east through Skon to the provincial city of Kampong Cham where it crosses the Mekong River. It then follows National Route Seven to Memut, Snoul and then turns southeast and crosses the border. It will then link-up with the Vietnamese rail network at Loc Ninh.
       Touch Chankosal, under-secretary of state for the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT), said a previously unpublished report had also valued the Bat Doeng to Snoul line at $600 million.
       "We're undecided what the government will contribute. We need to see the final report and how much it says it will cost," he said."The project will cost much."
       The Cambodian government has divided the country's railway system in two. Australia's Toll Holdings will take control of the old French-built lines in the west, which run from the capital to the Thai border and south to Sihanoukville, home to one of the largest ports in the Gulf of Siam.
       The China Railway Group has the contract to carry out the feasibility study that will link Phnom Penh with the Vietnam border.
       Paul Power, an adviser to the Cambodian government and team leader for the ADB's involvement in the re-construction of Cambodia's railways, said the railway's economic benefit for the region and Cambodia would be enormous.
       "It makes Cambodia the hub of transportation between China and Singapore and you would have a port link, you would have a link to Thailand, you'll have a link through to Vietnam," he said."The implications for that, for Cambodia in the region, are that Cambodia becomes the hub." He also said freight would provide the greatest economic benefits, particularly for shipping bulk goods like rice.
       However, the contractors first must deal with the thorny issue of resettling people living along the route.
       In Cambodia, poor landowners are often pushed out with little compensation to make way for commercial developments, causing considerable public anger.
       Mr Power said the companies working on the railway are aware of the problems that have afflicted other projects and think they can avoid similar difficulties.
       Touch Chankosal said other issues that need to be resolved include an agreement with Thailand over where the line will cross their shared border. A similar agreement was reached with Vietnam in 2007.
       Border relations between the two have not been good recently, following the dispute and military stand-off over land surrounding the temple at Preah Vihear just inside Cambodia.
       But Bangkok and Phnom Penh need to finalise exactly where stations and customs houses will be built, and at what point the railway will cross near the border town of Poipet.
       "The railway will help the economy a lot.It will reduce heavy transportation on the roads and facilitate trade exchange between neighbouring countries and this will boost economic growth," he added.
       If funding can be secured and resettlement and border issues resolved quickly then authorities hope the construction of the final link between Thailand and China and beyond as far as London, could start within the next 18 months.