Southeast Asia could look quite different in the future, if proposals for new railways become reality. There’s been plenty of proposed new railways in Southeast Asia over the years, with few have come to fruition.
James Clark, a travel writer based in Vietnam who runs an amazing travel blog Nomadic Notes, has drawn up a fantastic map featuring all the current and proposed railways across mainland and maritime Southeast Asia.
With years-worth of news article reporting railway lines that are under construction, or have been proposed to be built, with subway-style map to represent the lines.
“The map represents how to get from A to B rather than portraying exact geographical accuracy,” wrote Clark in its publication. But the style gives an idea of important junctions, such as Bangkok!
In drawing up the map, Clark sees a vision of a transport in the region being a cross between Europe’s international InterCity services and China’s high speed rail network. “With a single visa for ASEAN, an InterCity-style train would be able to travel from Bangkok to Phnom Penh in four hours, and a high-speed train in under three.”
Here are some of the highlighted proposed railways:
Trans-Sumatera
A planned Trans-Sumatera railway would travel more than 2.000 km from Banda Aceh in the north to Bandar Lampung in the south.
Mindanao, Philippines
The Philippines has a fragmented line serving South Luzon, but the railways on Luzon and Mindanao has been continually promised for years.
Singapore-Kuala Lumpur High Speed Rail
Today, both countries have committed to begin construction in 2017. The two capitals are about 350 km apart and the route is an ideal city pair. Speed Rail link is expected to cult the travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in only 90 minutes
Bang Sue Grand Central Station
One big infrastructure project that is currently under construction is Bang Sue Grand Central Station with 24 proposed platforms. This can easily become the largest train station in Southeast Asia (and one of the largest in the world in terms of platform numbers).
So, which railway are you most excited about?
