China – Myanmar Railway

Myanmar – China Railway Project, 1,193 miles (1,920 km) long, will link Kunming, capital city of China’s Yunnan Province with Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. The top permitted speed will be 87 mph (140km/h). Up till now, the section in China has been under construction since December, 2015 and it is expected to be completed by 2020, while the section in Myanmar is still under negotiation.

  • Kunming–Yangon high-speed railway (Myanmar section), from Muse in the Shan State on the border with China to Yangon with maximum train speeds of 170–200 km/h.

The Kunming–Yangon high-speed railway forms a portion of the 1,215 km (755 mi) high-speed railway from Kunming to Rakhine State on the Bay of Bengal.

In the summer of 2018, it seems plans are again on to complete the China-Myanmar railway.  In late November 2010, Chinese state media reported that the railway would begin construction in about two months.[46] But in March 2011, the Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming stated that the project was delayed due to the first elections in Myanmar in 20 years and differences in the railway gauge of the two countries. He explained the Chinese rail developers were waiting for the new cabinet in Myanmar to form and expressed hope that work on the line would begin before the end of 2011.

On 18 July 2014, the Myanmar government cancelled the project, citing opposition from civil rights groups, villagers and the general public.

  • Yangon–Myitkyina railway, from Yangon to Myitkyina, near the border with China (existing railway).

In December 2013, the Myanmar government began to discuss the upgrade of the existing Yangon-Myitkyina railway with the Asian Development Bank and the government of South Korea.

  • Yangon–Mandalay railway, from Yangon to Mandalay (existing railway).

In December 2013, Japanese media reported that the Myanmar and Japanese governments had reached an agreement to upgrade this line.

  • Yangon–Bangkok railway.

In May 2012, the railway Minister Aung Min of Myanmar announced that a feasibility study would be undertaken to rebuild the 105-km stretch of the Thai–Burma railway from the Three Pagoda Pass to the Thai border.[49] The railway could be reopened, he said, with international assistance and promote development in the region and peace with ethnic Shan and Karen rebels in the border areas.