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The other route will go from Chiang Mai - Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur -Singapore .. This could very well be a high speed link ..
But i can't see any link going through Lao , the financial implications plus the Maintenance issues that would come up would not make it viable for any rail link to be built through Lao ..
concentrate on building a sealed road network first , mind you if the British had been in Lao , Cambodia and Vietnam instead of the French we would most likely not be having this discussion as the Brits would have left a perfectly good transcontinental rail network in Indochina , just as they did in Africa , India , and Malaysia instead of the crappy half hearted attempt at building a road network that the French left half built ...
Only proletariate Kalashnikovs here skeeter guy. Chickens close to frozen.
saw somewhere when I was in Thailand earlier this year that the Thai PM had promised the line would be built before she left office in 3 years time - no doubt she will follow in her brothers footsteps and declare the line open even if there is no track and trains!
The Thais are already building a road from the Burmese Border , there is already a rail road infrastructure in Burma , Okay it's not really had much upgrading since the Brits left in the 50's ..
But it's a hell of a lot more than Lao has , plus i think there is more of will for the Burmese Government to cooperate with the building of the rail link with the Chinese than there would be in Lao , in Burma it would be a case of upgrading the existing lines , where as in Lao it would mean blasting through Mountains ect ..
So i would say that the preferred route would be through Burma rather than Lao ...But who knows . it's Asia and anything could happen ...
The major roads in Lao have been upgraded the last few years and are not bad at all. Of the 2000 kms I cycled in Lao recently no more than about 200 where on mud/gravel roads and they were clearly off the beaten track. On some of those there was construction going on and they will probably be sealed soon.
That's good to know , i was in Lao in Jan-Feb 2008 , and i remember the Road from Laung Prabang through to Xam Nuea been quite bad , lots of pot holes and lots of old bomb craters ..
Bus took me the best part of two days to get from Laung Prabang to Xam Nuea ..
So if that Road is indeed sealed all the way up now that's great news , it should really speed travel up in Lao now ..
Laos and Thailand are of little interest to China as there is no easy access to the Bay of Bengal.
The huge investment that China is now making in Myanmar to transport gas up to Kumming, followed by mid-East and Iranian crude thru the port of Kyaungphu so as to cut shipping costs and avoid the Straits of Melaka makes all other alternatives meaningless but good political bs.
The Shwe platform is now hooked up and gas will shortly flow, ironically the last pipe needs to be installed in China.
This Old Burma road route will be followed by rail and major road for freight not the occasional passenger.
Organisations like the ADB and WB wouldn't touch this - Lao receives grants from the ADB at this stage of the country's development as opposed to loans, and a grant of this size is way, way beyond their limits.
Edited by: nabanga
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16
The line if it ever comes to fruition will run from China into Thailand , hopefully a fast link in between Chiang Mai - Bangkok , then it will run on through to Cambodia going via Pattaya and on through to Phnom Penh then onwards to it's final destination in Saigon ..The other route will go from Chiang Mai - Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur -Singapore .. This could very well be a high speed link ..
But i can't see any link going through Lao , the financial implications plus the Maintenance issues that would come up would not make it viable for any rail link to be built through Lao ..
concentrate on building a sealed road network first , mind you if the British had been in Lao , Cambodia and Vietnam instead of the French we would most likely not be having this discussion as the Brits would have left a perfectly good transcontinental rail network in Indochina , just as they did in Africa , India , and Malaysia instead of the crappy half hearted attempt at building a road network that the French left half built ...
17
In more seriousness, I read the long range plans from Tlands development of high speed rail don't include any plans for Nong Khai or Mcdahan http://www.zenjournalist.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/nomurathai.pdf I doubt the Chinese would want to build a dead end to Vientiane. I remember ongoing discussion also about how large a swath of land the Lao PDR would be willing to give away with the RR. I remember 1.5km on both sides is what the Chinese wanted, which would de facto give them hundreds of km of LPDR.Only proletariate Kalashnikovs here skeeter guy. Chickens close to frozen.
19
#16 From China to Chaing Mai the line will either have to go through Burma or Laossaw somewhere when I was in Thailand earlier this year that the Thai PM had promised the line would be built before she left office in 3 years time - no doubt she will follow in her brothers footsteps and declare the line open even if there is no track and trains!
20
Bigal1 ...The Thais are already building a road from the Burmese Border , there is already a rail road infrastructure in Burma , Okay it's not really had much upgrading since the Brits left in the 50's ..
But it's a hell of a lot more than Lao has , plus i think there is more of will for the Burmese Government to cooperate with the building of the rail link with the Chinese than there would be in Lao , in Burma it would be a case of upgrading the existing lines , where as in Lao it would mean blasting through Mountains ect ..
So i would say that the preferred route would be through Burma rather than Lao ...But who knows . it's Asia and anything could happen ...
22
through Lao .. concentrate on building a sealed road network first ...
The major roads in Lao have been upgraded the last few years and are not bad at all. Of the 2000 kms I cycled in Lao recently no more than about 200 where on mud/gravel roads and they were clearly off the beaten track. On some of those there was construction going on and they will probably be sealed soon.
23
#22..That's good to know , i was in Lao in Jan-Feb 2008 , and i remember the Road from Laung Prabang through to Xam Nuea been quite bad , lots of pot holes and lots of old bomb craters ..
Bus took me the best part of two days to get from Laung Prabang to Xam Nuea ..
So if that Road is indeed sealed all the way up now that's great news , it should really speed travel up in Lao now ..
24
There seems to be lot of political naivety in many of the responses above.Laos and Thailand are of little interest to China as there is no easy access to the Bay of Bengal.
The huge investment that China is now making in Myanmar to transport gas up to Kumming, followed by mid-East and Iranian crude thru the port of Kyaungphu so as to cut shipping costs and avoid the Straits of Melaka makes all other alternatives meaningless but good political bs.
The Shwe platform is now hooked up and gas will shortly flow, ironically the last pipe needs to be installed in China.
This Old Burma road route will be followed by rail and major road for freight not the occasional passenger.
26
#9 - The proposed rail link is to be funded by the Lao Govt, through a loan from a Chinese bank. The interest alone will take all the profits from the gold & bauxite mines in Lao to service. It is indeed a bizarre proposal. Whilst marketed as a bullet train for passengers, in reality of course it is a bulk haulage link for resources.Organisations like the ADB and WB wouldn't touch this - Lao receives grants from the ADB at this stage of the country's development as opposed to loans, and a grant of this size is way, way beyond their limits.
Edited by: nabanga
