Greetings from Saigon! I’m back in Vietnam after leaving in a hurry in August last year. The country has now reopened, and it is relatively easy to enter (no quarantine or testing at the airport). I can only get a one month visa though, so I will be packing in as much research for Future Southeast Asia while I am here.

This week I continue the exploration of proposed urban rail transit systems of Southeast Asia. Indonesia is leading the charge with building provincial rail systems, having already built a line in Palembang. Medan might be the next city in Sumatra to get a transit line. In fact, Medan already has an airport rail link, so they already have a record of getting railways built.

Latest Posts At Future Southeast Asia

Medan Light Rail Transit

News

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Behind the scaffolding: Cambodia’s construction workers suffer as city skylines soar

• Minister: Permits needed ahead of all construction

• Phnom Penh-Bavet Expressway project study to be accelerated

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• China-led Jakarta-Bandung rail project stumbles

[Updated: Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway]

• Makassar-Parepare railway construction reconsulted

[Updated: Trans-Sulawesi Railway]

• LRT Jabodebek project 81.45 percent complete: KAI

• Jakarta to remain business centre despite capital relocation

• Indonesia most polluted country in Southeast Asia

🇱🇦 Laos

• Railway extension between Laos and Thailand to be complete by June

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• Giving pulse to Silicon Island

[Updated: Penang South Islands]

• Sarawak Metro: Two joint venture firms in bid to supply rolling stock to Kuching Urban Transportation System

[Updated: Autonomous Rail Transit (ART) Kuching]

• Progression of ECRL construction at 28.57pc, says MRL CEO

[Updated: East Coast Rail Link]

• Malaysia's Capital A to launch flying taxis in Southeast Asia

🇵🇭 Philippines

• Beyond infrastructure: Chinese capital in the Philippines under Duterte

• DOTr to revive Manila-Laguna cargo rail project

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Workspaces near home, vibrant CBD, flexible land use among strategies for S'pore's future

🇹🇭 Thailand

• LRT airport link 'ready by 2029'

“The light rail transit (LRT) project linking Bang Na intersection and Suvarnabhumi airport is expected to break ground in 2025 with the first-phase operation to be launched by 2029, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).”

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• VinFast plans to build 3,000 charging stations for electric vehicles in HCMC

• Vietnam's 5 biggest cities tasked with curbing motorbikes

• Hanoi demolishes colonial-era factory to make room for office complex, and

Hanoi Party chief orders suspension of old French-style building demolition