Thais Plan to Invest More Than $500 Million in Construction of Electric Sky Train Lines in Phnom Penh

Thais Plan to Invest More Than $500 Million in Construction of Electric Sky Train Lines in Phnom Penh

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.6, #1421, 18.8.2007

Phnom Penh: A foreign newspaper said recently that the Bangkok Mass Transit System [BTS] from Thailand plans to build two electric sky train lines in Phnom Penh soon in order to add a transportation system, also guaranteeing safety and reducing the number of traffic accidents in Phnom Penh.

“Officials of the Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transport said regarding the construction of electric sky train lines in Phnom Penh, that the Thai company will build two lines costing more than US$500 million. One line is to go from the Cambodian-Japanese Friendship [Chroy Chongva] Bridge to the Preah Monivong Bridge, and another line is to go from Phsar Thom Thmei to the Stung Meanchey Bridge.

“The construction of the electric sky train lines in Phnom Penh will start from 2008 and finish in 2011, and then the train operation will start. In late 2006, experts from Phnom Penh, and experts from China conducted a study along the Russian Federation Boulevard at the Ambassador Junction [leading from this boulevard towards Tuol Kork] and the junction near Tuek Thla, in order to plan the construction of bridges across those junctions to facilitate the traffic and to reduce traffic jams there.

“Officials of the Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transport said that in Cambodia, the Royal Government has a project to reconstruct, repair, and develop the two railway lines in the country, that is one line from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, and another line is from Phnom Penh to Poipet at the Cambodian-Thai border area, to be linked to the railway in Thailand. The railway line from Sisophon to Poipet is to be repaired with a donation from Malaysia.

“The officials added that the reconstruction and development of the railway lines in Cambodia are, at this time, part of the development project of ASEAN railway lines, linking Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other countries in the region toward Kunming in China. As for the ASEAN railways which will link Cambodia to Vietnam, they will link the Cambodian railway on the north of Phnom Penh across Kompong Cham to the Cambodian-Vietnamese border, and this section has been studied by Chinese experts.

“In Phnom Penh, traffic jams can be reduced somehow at the main entrances to the city, after the construction of the electric sky train lines by the Thai company is completed and the train operation starts.”