A review of Bangkok's Gold Line

The people-mover connecting Iconsiam to the Bangkok Skytrain, news on the cancelled Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Railway, and the new mega airport for HCMC finally begins construction.

Happy new year! While we are glad to see the back of 2020, it’s going to take more than a change of year for things to get back to normal. On the travel and research front, I don’t expect to be able to travel freely for the foreseeable future. With that in mind I will open the site to more guest posts to writers in the region. This week’s article is a post from our man in Bangkok, Greg Jorgensen.

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Bangkok’s Gold Line - a review of the latest edition to the transit system of Bangkok.

Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Railway

The big news this week was the official cancellation of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project. Malaysia will have to pay Singapore an undisclosed amount for the privilege cancelling the project. Singapore have so far spent S$270 million on the project, but Malaysia expect that the compensation amount will be less.

Malaysia says that the project was cancelled due to Covid-19 impact on the economy, though reports in Singapore say that Malaysia wanted to remove the agreed systems supplier and network operator.

The cancellation will likely have a knock-on effect on projects that were planned in anticipation of the railway, including Bandar Malaysia and projects in Johor state.

One report suggested that a domestic high-speed railway in Malaysia could be built, but transport analysts have pointed out that it would be redundant without including Singapore.

It’s not clear yet if the project will be revived in its current form, or medium-speed railway is built in its place.

Updated Posts

Malaysia

“Property projects within the vicinity of Bandar Malaysia are likely to come under threat from the cancellation of the Kuala Lumpur (KL)-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR).”

Myanmar

“Surveys have been conducted into granting town status to Shwe Kokko Myaing village, a controversial China-backed project in Myawaddy Township, Karen State.”

Philippines

Vietnam

“The $4.6 billion first phase of the airport in Dong Nai Province is set to be completed by 2025 when it will be able to handle 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo a year.”

Other News

Asia

Cambodia

“Tourism to the Kingdom’s northeast corridor could experience a remarkable metamorphosis after the government decided in principle of a Chinese company to study and develop a proposal to build a regional-level airport in Mondulkiri province, according to industry insiders.”

Hong Kong

Laos

Malaysia

Philippines

Singapore

“The axing of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) will have no immediate bearing on development plans for the Jurong region, which was slated to host the project's southernmost terminus, experts said on Friday (Jan 1).”

Thailand

Vietnam

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