How Thailand made a mess of its railway network

The Future Southeast Asia Newsletter turns 2 - thanks for your support!

The Future Southeast Asia Newsletter marked its second anniversary this week. I was thinking about this because I happen to be in Vietnam again in April, and I was in lockdown in Vietnam in April two years ago when I started this project.

This newsletter has gone out every Wednesday without a break, so it must have passed the 100th newsletter sometime last month. The article map gives an overview of how far the site has progressed so far.

This week I’ve posted a long article about the mixed-gauge mess of Thailand’s railways. This is part one of a three-part series covering Thailand’s railways with the theme of “mess”. I will have more feature articles like this over the next year, including coverage of problems of the railways in Malaysia and Vietnam.

If you would like to support my work, consider a monthly or annual subscription to Future Southeast Asia. Your support helps me do more on-the-ground research!

You can also support by sharing this newsletter with like-minded friends and associates who would enjoy reading about construction, transport, and infrastructure in Southeast Asia.

Latest Posts At Future Southeast Asia

The mixed-gauge mess of Thailand’s railways

News

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Indonesia wealth fund agrees to invest $2.7bn in toll roads

• Construction of Yogyakarta-Bavin highway project in Indonesia starts

• Indonesia's new capital's State Palace and the House building ready by 2024, say top officials

[Updated: Nusantara - New Capital City of Indonesia]

• Silencing the din in Indonesian cities

🇱🇦 Laos

• Impoverished Laos has lost more than $760 million to corruption since 2016: report

“The Lao government has lost U.S. $767 million to corruption since 2016, with government development and investment projects such as road and bridge construction the leading source of the widespread graft, according to the country’s State Inspection Authority.”

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• Integrated transportation development to be main focus of Bandar Malaysia, says Wee

[Updated: Bandar Malaysia]

🇵🇭 Philippines

• Endangered: Saving Manila’s remaining heritage structures comes with roadblocks

• Why coding and building more roads won’t fix Metro Manila traffic

• P488-B subway opening set back 3 years

• Roque pushes for LRT system in Cebu

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Singapore aims to be Asia’s busiest international airport

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Monorail lines near completion, booked for tests

• Roof of Don Mueang airport terminal collapses

• Pattaya breakwater project abandoned with no explanation from city hall

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Saigon designates 6 areas with architectural heritage to be conserved

• Hanoi sells 600 century-old villas for funding

• Hanoi plans six more underground urban railway lines

• Vietnam plans $1.5B investment to build national shipping line