The Asian Development Bank (ADB)
said Monday it would provide a technical assistance grant to support the
establishment of a railway coordination office in the five Mekong nations where
railways have developed independently.

The bank did not say how much the grant is, but said it
aims to help the Greater Mekong Subregion countries achieve greater connectivity
through coordinated railway development.

The GMS is made up of Cambodia, China’s Yunnan Province and
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The GMS countries’ national railways are not
interconnected, with the exception of a connection between China and Vietnam.

The Philippines-based bank said its grant would assist the
Mekong nations in preparing a detailed plan to set up the railway coordination
office, including a business and a financing plan for its first five years of
operation. The countries will jointly manage the coordination office, according
to ADB.

“The initiative to establish the railway coordination
office reflects the growing realization by the GMS countries of the need for an
interconnected and integrated railway network in the subregion,” James Lynch,
director for transport and urban development in ADB’s Southeast Asia Department,
said in the bank’s Monday announcement.

“Integrating railways does not only involve investing in
infrastructure, which in itself is difficult due to technical and operational
differences among the countries’ railways,” he added.

He also said in the statement that integration entails
reconciling and harmonizing the software aspects of the transport sector such as
compatible immigration, customs, and health regulations and procedures at the
borders, as well as systems for fair and efficient handling of administrative
functions such as ticketing and revenue distribution.

The railway coordination office will provide the venue and
mechanisms for addressing such issues, according to the provider of the grant.

ADB added that recognizing an integrated railway system
offers an efficient and environment-friendly transport mode to link their
economies, the Mekong countries requested the bank’s assistance in undertaking a
sub-regional railway strategy study in 2009.

The study led to the development of a strategic framework
for connecting GMS railways, which recommends the establishment of the
coordination office.

The 16th GMS Ministerial Conference held in Hanoi in August
this year endorsed the GMS railways framework.

Source: SGGP