Seven Asian countries including China have planned to build a railway linking southwest China and Singapore, hopefully to bring prosperity to the area.

The railway starts from Kunming, capital city of southwest China's Yunnan province, and runs through Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia before reaching Singapore.

The railway is like a ribbon connecting China and Southeast Asian countries and providing golden opportunities for multi-lateral trade and investment.

China declared at a recent ASEAN 10+1 meeting that it will invest 5 million US dollars to dredge the upper Mekong River and kick off the railway project in 2003.

The China Railway Engineering Company will be responsible for building the first section, which is in Malaysia. It will be over 270 kilometers long and cost 1.2 billion yuan (144 million US dollars). It will cut the journey from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore by half.

Three suggested routes

Sources from the Planning Department of the Ministry of Railways said, the idea of the Pan-Asia railway was first put forward by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir at the fifth ASEAN summit meeting seven years ago.

Mahathir suggested three routes. An eastern route from Kunming through Hekou in Yunnan to Vietnam. The central route from Jinghong in Yunnan to Laos and a west route from Dali to Myanmar.

Kunming Railway Director Zheng Jiandong said, "The Pan-Asia railway is an international railway, which means its plan and construction must have the endorsement of the 10 ASEAN members. Ina recent meeting held in Malaysia, the majority favored the eastern route."

This route measures 5,600 kilometers and Hekou, a city bordering Vietnam will become the focus for the Chinese section of the railway.

Link to contribute to communication and trade

Farmers in Hekou said the railway will help rid them of poverty. More than 600,000 tons of banana and pine-apples rot every year as the result of the slowness and inconvenience of the present railway from Kunming to Hekou.

The Kunming-Hekou railway is 660.5 kilometers long and was built by the French 100 years ago. It zigzaggs through the mountains in order to transport and exploit China's resources.

The rail track is one meter wide, narrower than other national standard railways, but conforms to those in Southeast Asian countries.

Zheng Jiandong said, "The narrow railway along mountainous areas has handicapped Yunnan's transportation and trade. It will take 24 hours to travel from Kunming to Hekou. On the other hand, it is indeed time-consuming when workers shift cargo to standard railways and vice versa."

In China's 2.8-billion-US dollar trade with Vietnam, Yunnan only contributes 160 million dollars.

Zheng said one feasible plan is to change 142 kilometers of one-meter-wide railway track to standard railway width and construct another 143-kilometer-long standard railway.

After completion, the train's speed will rise to 80 kilometers an hour, cutting traveling hours to 9 hours and enhancing the cargo transportation capacity from 4.6 million tons to 200 million tons of cargo.

Zhai Kun, an expert on Southeast Asia from the Modern International Relations said, "China is substantiating its commitment to build a free economic zone with Southeast Asian countries by the railway.

"China and ASEAN countries are complementary in many fields such as natural and human resources. Bilateral trade between China and Malaysia has risen to 9.4 billion dollars in 2001, 4.2 billion more than in 1999.

"The Pan-Asia railway will play an important role in communications and trade."

( People's Daily July 2, 2002 )