Trans Asian rail agreement?

awsgc24 · Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 3:36 pm

Rs 2900 Crores is about $725m.

Tonymercury · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 6:14 am

April 20, 2008
The Sunday Times
Rail line links London with Bangladesh
Dean Nelson in Delhi
RAIL enthusiasts with a sense of adventure and 23 days to spare will be able to travel by train from London to Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, when a new link opens later this year.

The 7,000-mile Trans-Asia railway will follow one of the old Silk Roads through Istanbul, Tehran, Lahore and Delhi.

It is already being described by train buffs as “the world’s greatest railway journey” and will be longer than the Trans-Siberian railway, which spans 5,772 miles.

Under a United Nations-sponsored scheme, Pakistan and Iran will link up their lines in the coming months to join the sub-continent’s track to that of Europe for the first time.

The UN said the link would open up new trade routes within Asia and give the former Soviet republics of central Asia rail access to Iran’s strategic sea port at Bandar Abbas on the Gulf.

The route was extended when the Calcutta to Dhaka line reopened earlier this month, more than 40 years after it was blocked during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965.

Last week, senior Indian officials met their Iranian counterparts in Tehran to discuss progress. India has already earmarked £90m to extend its vast rail network towards its border with Burma. From there just 218 miles of missing track stands in the way of an overland rail journey from London to Singapore.

An intrepid traveller will soon be able to leave London for Brussels, Cologne, Vienna, Bucharest, Istanbul, Tehran, Quetta, Lahore, Amritsar, Delhi and Calcutta before reaching the end of the line in Dhaka.

The prospect has caused excitement among Britain’s rail enthusiasts. Mark Smith, whose website Seat61.com promotes rail adventures around the world, was planning his first London to Dhaka itinerary.

His trip incorporates the Eurostar to Brussels, breakfast in Vienna and onward trains to Istanbul, where travellers must take the ferry across the Bosporus linking Europe with Asia. The ferry will eventually be replaced by an underground tunnel, but for now passengers will be able to enjoy views of the Aya Sofya and Topkapi Palace.

Smith’s journey continues with a Turkish express train to Lake Van, close to the Iraqi and Iranian borders, where passengers switch to another ferry to get to the Tehran-bound express, which is described as surprisingly modern.

Iranian engineers have extended their network through Kerman to the Pakistan border, where travellers will switch to a Pakistani train before continuing their journey to Quetta.

China, a big supporter of the project, is spending billions on extending rail lines to its Burmese border.

Trans-Asia railway sources said the only barrier to eventually connecting London to Yunnan province and Singapore was Burma’s military regime, whose poor human rights record means that no foreign funding is available to rebuild its railways.

Smith, who always books seat 61, said the journey offered a return to romantic overland adventure, despite some security concerns on the Iran-Pakistan border.

“If you have the time, a taste for adventure and can arrange the necessary tickets and visas, this promises to be a truly epic overland journey,” he said.

Tony Bailey
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Tonymercury · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 6:06 am

New railroad to link Iran, Russia
Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:16:33

Russia plans to build a new railroad which will connect it to three northern Iranian cities, the Russian Railways (RZD) has announced.

RZD said in a Tuesday statement that Russia and Azerbaijan plan to construct the railroad linking the Iranian cities of Qazvin and Rasht to Astara which is on the border with Azerbaijan, RIA Novosti reported.

The railroad will join an already-existing network between Azerbaijan and Russia, the statement added.

The new railroad is part of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a network which will link the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea littoral states via Iran.

Russia and Iran will also be linked through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan by a 900-kilometre railroad which Ashgabat announced would open in December 2011.

Iran and India also reached an agreement in April to cooperate on the construction of a railroad designed to connect south-eastern and central Iran.

The railroad will be part of the Trans-Asia Railroad project which would allow India to access Russian markets via Iran.

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Tonymercury · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:08 am

China-Central Asia Railroad Faces Economic, Political Risks
Source:China, Central Asia

Building a railroad that would connect China with Europe and Middle East through Central Asia, although theoretically perspective, looks unrealizable in the nearest future due to economical and political challenges. Only for Kyrgyzstan building its part on a very difficult mountainous terrain will cost at least 2 billion US dollars by some estimates. With poor investment climate and 2 billon dollars of external debt, the country is unlikely to fulfil its part of the project, experts say.

The plan of the railroad from China via Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to Europe has been discussed for the past thirteen years. Recently all sides have finalized railroad’s route, which will start in Kashgar in Xinjiang autonomous region of China and will go via Torugart, Uzgen, Kara-Suu to Andijan in Uzbekistan.

Kanatbek Abdykerimov, head of Department for railroad management and designing at the national railway company Kyrgyz Temir Jolu said to the Reporter Bishkek newspaper that the biggest achievement has been agreement to speed intergovernmental negotiations that would allow launching road construction.

He said that the railroad project was sent to China and is expected to be signed in September. After that the countries will be able announce international tender and select construction companies.

Abdykerimov noted that country’s two billion-dollar external debt should not hinder the project. “The government will find funds, the project is essential to our country,” he said.

First President of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akaev said in 2004 that the railroad could improve economic condition of one million Kyrgyz citizens and provide for 60 percent annual GDP growth. Kyrgyzstan might also find new markets for the coal produced in Kara-Keche mine in Naryn region.

Orozbek Moldaliev, Director of the Centre for international relations studies in Kyrgyzstan says that slow economic growth, poor investment climate and political instability scares investors away. Besides that, Kyrgyzstan has very few products to export which might pose difficulties for the project’s payback.

“Our economic climate scares away investors. Even in politically unstable Afghanistan investments are pouring into the country by billions,” Moldaliev says.

“We do not have war like Afghanistan does, but we have flourishing red tape, which is a bureaucratic war,” Moldaliev continues.

He points out investors are not lining up for the project, which means that theoretical benefits of the railroad might not be very convincing to investors.

Some of the experts also suggest that connecting China’s unstable Xinjiang province with volatile Central Asian states might be too politically risky for Beijing. Moreover, building the route to Middle East via Iran might end up being too costly.

Ferghana News
August 12,2008

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Tonymercury · Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:40 am

Asia's missing links discussed
29 Aug 2008

ASIA: The Singapore - Kunming Rail Link was on the agenda of the 10th ASEAN-Mekong Basin Development Co-operation ministerial meeting, which was held in Singapore and concluded on August 29.

Around 550 km of new line is planned under the SKRL project, completing a 7 000 km metre-gauge rail network connecting seven ASEAN countries plus China.

Noting that the missing links are at various stages of development, the ministers agreed that the 10th SKRL special working group meeting will be held in the Malaysian city of Putra Jaya on November 22.

In 2006 the total cost of the project was estimated at US$2bn. A conference to attract investment will be convened in early 2009, and Malaysia accepted an invitation to be permanent chair of the working group.

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Tonymercury · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 5:03 am

China to build railways linking Xinjiang with central,south Asia
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-09 22:50
URUMQI - Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is expected to build nine railways covering more than 2,000 km of track to link the Muslim area with other parts of the country and central and south Asia before 2020, a local railway official said here on Thursday.

They included a China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, a China-Pakistan railway and seven railways linking the region with neighbouring Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Qinghai and Gansu provinces, said Wu Jian, the Urumqi Railway Bureau deputy head.

The new lines will provide a faster link between western China and central Asia and improve the southern passageway of the new Euro-Asia continental bridge.

Xinjiang opened its first railway in 1962. Currently, it has more than 3,000 km of rail line and another 2,200 km of track is under construction.

Currently the only rail linking Xinjiang with central Asia is a 460-km line between Urumqi and the Alataw Pass where it connects to Kazakhstan's railway.

China and its central Asian neighbours have been carrying out feasibility studies to improve their rail network amid growing trade in recent years.

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Tonymercury · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:51 am

http://www.morungexpress.com/letters_to_the_editor/trans-asian-railways.html
Sir-India has signed the inter-Governmental Agreement on Trans-Asian
Railways along with Bangladesh to strengthen rail linkages in the
region, especially with South Asian countries and boost trade
between Asia and Europe. The agreement was signed on Friday by JP
Batra, Chairman of the Railway Board. Indian Railways, on behalf of
India on 29th June, 2007.

With India and Bangladesh signing the agreement, 20 countries became
signatories of the pact. The 18 other countries had signed the pact
at Busan, South Korea on 6th November, 2006. The 80,900-km railway
network covers 28 countries including 22,600 km in South Asia, Iran
and Turkey. The southern corridor of the network, as decided in an
expert group meeting held at Dhaka in 1999, commences from Kunming
in China and Bangkok in Thailand and ends in Kapikule in Bulgaria.
The total length of the route between Bangkok and Kapikule is 11,460
kms and it provides trans-continental rail connectivity to China,
Thailand , Myanmar , Bangladesh , Pakistan , India , Iran and
Turkey. The network will provide an opportunity for improving rail
linkages to India's north-eastern states and harmonize the rail
network in the region.

The route will enter India at Tamu in Manipur, bordering Myanmar,
before going to Bangladesh and re-enter India at Gede in North 24
Parganas, West Bengal. On the western side, the route is proposed to
enter Pakistan at Attari. This route has a missing link of 315 kms
between India and Myanmar of Which, 180 kms is in India between
Jiribam and Tamu in Manipur.

The railway network will improve transport linkages between Asia and
Europe and facilitate movement of goods and containers among the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, resulting
the enhancement of trade.

The said Trans Asian Railway is planned in the interest of 28
countries, and not in the interest of an individual state or
country. It is therefore every responsible citizen and organization
of any status may view it in the interest of the Euro-Asian people
development linkages and support its implementation without undue
interference.

G. Gaingam
Former V/President Naga Hoho

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Tonymercury · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 4:50 am

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Patna/Pact_on_TARN_to_connect_28_nations_through_rail_link/articleshow/3915054.cms

31 Dec 2008, 0339 hrs IST

PATNA: The Indian Railways recently signed an inter-governmental
agreement on Trans Asian Railway Network (TARN). This agreement on
TARN has been approved under the aegis of the United National
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP). This
dream project is likely to cost about Rs 3,000 crore to the Indian
Railways in particular.

According to Railway Board media director Manish Tiwary, the
approved plan intends to connect 28 countries through rail link.
They include India, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Pakistan,
Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Russia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bulgaria,
Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Patna is one of the
routes internationally approved in the agreement which was signed by
the Indian Railways on behalf of the government at UNO headquarters
in New York this year, he said.

The agreement has identified the railway lines of international
importance, including the missing links. The missing link in India
has been identified from Jiribam to Tamu in Manipur. According to
the feasibility study carried out by Rail India Technical and
Economic Services (RITES), the construction of this missing link is
estimated to cost about Rs 2,941 crore to the railways. The railway
ministry has decided to construct about 97 km new rail link between
Jiribam and Tupul near Imphal in the first phase of the work. A sum
of over Rs 727 crore has been sanctioned for it by the railways, a
board official said.

According to sources, this project will be completed in about 20
years from now. Each country has been asked to build rail network
within its own jurisdiction as per the Busan (Korea) agreement. The
Indian Railways are required to build about 350 km new route between
India and Myanmar at an estimated cost of Rs 3,000 crore, sources
said, adding the total length will be of about 22,600 km covering
South Asia, Iran and Turkey.

According to the project incharge of the railways, the whole project
has been divided into three rail corridors -- South Rail, Central
Rail and North Rail. However, the proposed international route
passing through Bihar is to originate from Myanmar and will pass
through Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal, he said, adding
the route in Bihar will run through Guwahati, Siliguri, Kishanganj,
Katihar, Barauni, Patna and Mughalsarai.

The greatest advantage of the project is that it will connect
transport services, particularly to every important industrial
centre, port and container terminal. It is bound to give a fillip to
container traffic between South Asia and European countries. Since
the Indian Railways have the most developed network, international
trade would get a boost. This project is being taken up by the
railways in pursuance of the government's `Look East' policy, a
board official said.

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