The Ha Long railway fiasco

Hello from Hoi An. I got the overnight train last night from Binh Thuan to Da Nang, so I will write about that travel experience at.

This week’s article is about a new railway that Vietnam tried to build, but has since been abandoned.

Latest posts at Future Southeast Asia

• Hanoi – Ha Long Railway

News

• Obstacles to decarbonisation in Southeast Asia

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• New Ratanakkiri airport to serve as ‘travel hub’ for Northeastern region

• Cambodia’s Ream National Park transformed from wildlife haven to development zone

• ‘Everywhere is broken’: how land grabs in Cambodia are demolishing lives

• Japan to provide over $18 million to support irrigation and drainage project in Phnom Penh

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train to be inaugurated in August, Luhut says

• New capital development 25% complete: Hadimuljono

• To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest

• Train imports nixed, govt mulls ways to handle rising KRL ridership

• Indonesia tries to transform Bali-reliant tourism sector

• Southwest Papua seeks to draw investment in SEZ

🇱🇦 Laos

• China-Laos railway to run cross-border passenger trains starting Thursday

• China offers joined-up rail ticketing to belt and road countries

“Laos is first to sign up to the universal platform, which uses Swiss francs, not the US dollar for international payments.”

• LOCA celebrates electrifying milestone: 115 EV taxis, 440,000 km served

• Chinese-funded project would build industrial city near Laos mine

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• ECRL can handle all cargo from east coast to Klang Valley, says Loke

• Zafrul: Malaysia open to reviving high-speed rail project to Singapore

• Large-scale infrastructure and development projects in Bayan Lepas are luring homebuyers

• Outrage over 5-storey building plan at back of Penang’s oldest market

🇵🇭 Philippines

• 30,000 to be affected by suspension of PNR operations

• ADB: First tranche of loan financing for Bataan-Cavite bridge seen approved by Q3

• Philippine Jeepney modernization creates political headache

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Tender called for 400 electric buses in the largest purchase of its kind by LTA

• Singapore's casino resort expansions mired in delays

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Thailand's China-built high-speed rail, on track but delayed

• Thailand to continue investment in industrial east as election approaches

• Iran urged to assist bridge project

• Fixing region’s air pollution problems requires bold steps

• Northern Thailand’s air pollution becoming a tourism issue• No bids to build Patong Tunnel

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Ho Chi Minh City is having a grim 2023 so far. There are a number of high-profile construction projects that have stalled due to corrupt developers. Now the chairman of Vietnam’s largest beverage producer has been arrested on charges of illegally appropriating property. According to the report, most of the fraud allegations are related to high-value real estate projects in Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City.

As if the site of unfinished towers wasn’t bad enough, the years-delayed metro line is at risk of being short-staffed, and the metro line firm faces shutdown. We’ve heard this before, so I don’t see it being shut down. The government would have to step in to avoid the international humiliation of the metro project being abandoned, while every other major city in Southeast Asia is getting on with building metro systems.

And while not technically in HCMC, the long-delayed second airport of HCMC is having problems with construction dust. There are also still households on the worksite that have refused relocation.

• Cat Linh- Ha Dong metro line serves more than 2.65 mln passengers in Q1

• Electric taxi services to debut in Hanoi this week

• Second airport planned for Vietnam capital

• Solutions needed on VN high-speed railway

“Embracing a high-speed railway venture with mixed use of passenger and freight trains is deemed a viable option to form a backbone on the north-south economic corridor.”

• Deputy PM orders cities to clear, return sidewalks to pedestrians