Trans-Asian Railway Unlocks Laos Borders

[CHamilton]

By Ore Huiying

August 7, 2012

VIENTIANE, Laos – Imagine a day when it is possible to take a train continuously from London to Singapore. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) hopes to realize that vision by constructing the Trans-Asian Railway Network (TAR).

Laos, the least developed country in East Asia, sees this rail project as a developmental key that would transform its landlocked situation and untap its abundant natural resources. At present, there are only 2 miles of rail track across Mekong River, connecting Laos to Thailand.

The new railway will consist of a web of 70,836-mile rail track, linking 28 countries across Asia and Europe. When completed, this network would greatly shorten distances and reduce transit times between countries and regions. For Laos, it means opening a direct link between China and Thailand.

 

[the_traveler]

"... Unlocks Laos Borders"?

Did they lose the key to the lock?

 

[George Harris]

These grandiose schemes are always floating around. Money is the problem. Politics and terrain can also be problems blithly ignored in the graniose scheme stage. The distance is strange. First for what is a set of crayon lines on a world map, to call it to the nearest mile. Second, this number will get you around the world about 3 times, that is why I called in a set of lines, it has got to be more than a single line.