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Cambodia, Vietnam ink deal to link up railways

Cambodia and Vietnam have signed a deal to link their railways, Cambodia’s foreign minister said yesterday, helping revive long-running plans to link Asia by rail.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said China would help Cambodia with the railroad link to Vietnam, which would cost more than US$500 million.

“China has promised to build the railroad from Phnom Penh to Vietnam as part of the project to create a link from Singapore to Kunming [Yunnan Province] in China,” Hor Namhong said on his return from regional meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam.

“The railroads are very important for Cambodia’s economy because we can then export goods to other southeast Asian countries at low cost,” he told reporters at Phnom Penh International airport.

Trade between Cambodia and Vietnam totaled US$1.7 billion in the first eight months of this year, Hor Namhong said.

Cambodia is linked to its western neighbor Thailand by a track that is no longer in use.

Cambodia’s civil war only ended in the 1990s, and trains throughout the impoverished nation crawl along dilapidated tracks.
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