Lao Railway Progress

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tamada
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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by tamada » January 5, 2020, 1:21 pm

FrazeeDK wrote:
January 5, 2020, 12:23 pm
...

Nairobi to Mombassa SGR replaced a decrepit 1 meter gauge rail built again around 1905.. The system will extend towards northwestern Nigeria to the South Sudan as well as over towards Uganda and on..
...
Funny you should mention Kenya's new railway.

"When Kenya launched its new railway last year, connecting the coastal city of Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi, passenger tickets sold out. Travelling between the country’s two biggest cities overland had meant crowding into a bus for 12 hours, or riding the old British-built railway, which might have taken 24 hours. The new line, run by Chinese engineers who wander up and down the carriages, has cut the journey to between four and six hours, depending on the number of stops. The seats are comfortable and, at just 700 shillings (about $7), affordable. Lucky passengers see elephants along the way.

Shuttling passengers, however, is not what the new line was built for. When Kenya borrowed $3.2bn from China for the railway in 2014, the aim was to move freight efficiently between the capital and the port at Mombasa, 484km (301 miles) apart. Unlike the passenger service, the cargo one has been a disaster."


The freight service is moribund because it didn't embrace the fact that Kenya's freight forwarders and Customs bondsmen are still mostly port-based in Mombassa and they don't like stuff bypassing them, getting loaded on trains to be processed at a new but inefficient Nairobi shipping depot. Customers don't like it either.

https://www.economist.com/middle-east-a ... vice-versa



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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by FrazeeDK » January 5, 2020, 6:26 pm

none the less both the Ethiopians and Kenyans have a logistical pathway that will eventually overcome local objections and lack of freight handling yards to become the prime pathway for freight in those countries.
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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by Barney » January 5, 2020, 6:54 pm

Maybe they will build a rail line to meet the bridge between Saudi and Egypt.
That would help people get to Mecca.
That area of Saudi will open up in a big way.


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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by FrazeeDK » January 24, 2020, 2:34 pm

just taking a look at Google Maps satellite shots of Laos. You can see more of the railway project extending northwards from Vientiane. Adjacent to the railway project is a expressway project that will go from Vientiane up to Vang Vieng. According to this article from a few months ago it is 40% done. I hadn't given much thought to other than the rail project but a full expressway spanning Laos to the Chinese border is under construction. All part of China's OBOR plan. http://en.slacolaos.com/the-vientiane-v ... pleted-40/
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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by FrazeeDK » March 28, 2020, 12:34 pm

now laying track at 2 kilometers a day.. That's 500 meter continuous spans of rail. The entire Lao to China railway is about 440km so 220 days to lay the entire rail structure.. Scheduled to open late next year. Bet it opens early. https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/int ... s-railway/
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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by anefarious1 » March 28, 2020, 12:41 pm

FrazeeDK wrote:
March 28, 2020, 12:34 pm
now laying track at 2 kilometers a day.. That's 500 meter continuous spans of rail. The entire Lao to China railway is about 440km so 220 days to lay the entire rail structure.. Scheduled to open late next year. Bet it opens early. https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/int ... s-railway/
I would take that bet

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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by laksnrub » March 28, 2020, 4:23 pm

Friends Thailanders and country men, If the workers go home for there monthly 5 day break they can't return back to Laos, hence the work crew mostly Chinese have stayed in Laos to work with Sunday off, 12hr-6day shift till the virus is safe to return home, Civil works has been a big pusher to get in before the wet season, There aiming for a big Chinese New year 2022 promote china opening with the first rail service from China.
The mainframe of rail service are the stations, which are the Laos responsibility, 12 are planed of the 95 projected stations needed to service Laos community, at this stage its all about China to Laos freight and maybe some return goods,

Passenger service is on the ever ever get there build model.
Quality is best done first

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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by pal52 » March 28, 2020, 6:53 pm

laksnrub wrote:
March 28, 2020, 4:23 pm
Friends Thailanders and country men, If the workers go home for there monthly 5 day break they can't return back to Laos, hence the work crew mostly Chinese have stayed in Laos to work with Sunday off, 12hr-6day shift till the virus is safe to return home, Civil works has been a big pusher to get in before the wet season, There aiming for a big Chinese New year 2022 promote china opening with the first rail service from China.
The mainframe of rail service are the stations, which are the Laos responsibility, 12 are planed of the 95 projected stations needed to service Laos community, at this stage its all about China to Laos freight and maybe some return goods,

Passenger service is on the ever ever get there build model.
The Railway will carry passengers & cargo at a speed of 160 km per hour.

The electrified passenger and cargo railway is built with the full application of Chinese management and technical standards.

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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by FrazeeDK » March 29, 2020, 9:38 am

note the article posted on the track laying showed it being done in Vientiane. Could be we'll see train service up to Vang Vieng within a year?? Plus the Vientiane to Vang Vieng tollway is also currently under construction..
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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by tamada » March 29, 2020, 10:42 am

^ Yet another quiet, pristine, virginal oriental paradise is rent asunder. At least it's not the US Army Corps of Engineers doing this one.

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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by FrazeeDK » March 29, 2020, 11:01 am

yes, pristine with the people living out in that pristine countryside absolutely poverty stricken according to my Lao friend who does road construction in the hinterlands.. Not all development is bad. We'll have to wait and see how this railway affects the future of Laos..
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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by saint » March 29, 2020, 11:39 am

Who cares if they are hungry . Dont spoil the view .
I would think good for business and the economy , and will generate jobs along its route .
My worry is will it generate enough to cover the payments .

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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by laksnrub » March 29, 2020, 11:44 am

pal52 wrote:
March 28, 2020, 6:53 pm
laksnrub wrote:
March 28, 2020, 4:23 pm
Friends Thailanders and country men, If the workers go home for there monthly 5 day break they can't return back to Laos, hence the work crew mostly Chinese have stayed in Laos to work with Sunday off, 12hr-6day shift till the virus is safe to return home, Civil works has been a big pusher to get in before the wet season, There aiming for a big Chinese New year 2022 promote china opening with the first rail service from China.
The mainframe of rail service are the stations, which are the Laos responsibility, 12 are planed of the 95 projected stations needed to service Laos community, at this stage its all about China to Laos freight and maybe some return goods,

Passenger service is on the ever ever get there build model.
The Railway will carry passengers & cargo at a speed of 160 km per hour.

The electrified passenger and cargo railway is built with the full application of Chinese management and technical standards.
You need the Train stations for the passengers to get the train, get on train China next stop end of line, at this stage nothing in between, Laos has the job to build the Stations, China has chiped in with freight yards, where Pax can get on/off, the all weather basic station is on the lets see who uses it first, like Thailand it will need to be Cheap for the locals, Baht11 from Udon to Nong Khai, other wise the poor can't afford it, freight tourist then locals.
Quality is best done first

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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by the-monk » May 5, 2020, 11:14 am

Source:https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Belt- ... n-recovery

Southeast Asia rail projects stall as China focuses on recovery
Belt and Road construction takes a back seat amid coronavirus rebuild

YOHEI MURAMATSU AND SHUNSUKE TABETA, Nikkei staff writers
MAY 05, 2020 02:25 JST

Construction on a high-speed railway between Jakarta and Bandung has ground to a halt due to coronavirus-related restrictions. © Reuters
BANGKOK/BEIJING -- As Asia focuses its resources on containing the coronavirus outbreak and its economic impact, large infrastructure projects funded by China have come to a standstill across Southeast Asia.

Construction on a roughly 140-km high-speed rail link between Jakarta and the Indonesian provincial capital Bandung recently came to a halt. The project, which is financed by a Chinese state-owned bank and has another Chinese state enterprise involved in construction, is now expected to be delayed from the planned 2021 opening.

With the world's fourth-largest population of 270 million, Indonesia is Southeast Asia's biggest economy. China considers the country a key link in its Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

But Indonesia has strictly restricted foreigners from entering the country since March in an effort to contain the coronavirus, meaning Chinese laborers have been locked out of the construction site. "We will have a discussion after the outbreak has been stabilized," said Luhut Pandjaitan, coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investment, on April 14.

Thailand has pushed back its deadline for negotiations over a high-speed railway planned to eventually stretch all the way to China. It now hopes for agreement on a roughly 250-km section of the link from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima in October instead of May.

The State Railway of Thailand had said in mid-April that China was not responding to its inquiries. The project has likely slipped down on Beijing's priority list, since it is unlikely to be completed anytime soon.

In Myanmar, a power plant being built by a Chinese state-owned company and a Hong Kong company has run into delays, due partly to supply chain issues from the outbreak. A Chinese-built power plant in Cambodia will likely not come online in May as planned.

The Chinese Communist Party affirmed its commitment to the Belt and Road Initiative at an April meeting of its powerful Politburo. But with the delayed annual congress back on for May 22, China is focusing resources on lifting its own virus-hit economy. Southeast Asia is expected to be placed on the back burner for some time.

In the January-March quarter, Chinese companies signed $26.2 billion worth of new construction contracts in the 57 countries participating in the Belt and Road project, China's Commerce Ministry said. The figure was 14% lower than a year earlier. Major contractor China Communications Construction logged a 4% decrease by value for new contracts and construction revenue in January-March.

China's first priority is a recovery in its domestic economy, and the second is mending supply chains in cooperation with neighboring countries, Jin Canrong, a professor at Beijing's Renmin University, told local media.

"For now, China will have no choice but to reduce investments into infrastructure and other hardware overseas," said Koji Sako at the Mizuho Research Institute.

"Given the lack of growth in China's current-account surplus, limiting investments also keeps cash from leaving the country," he said. The Belt and Road Initiative was launched in part as a way to cancel out some of China's surplus by taking the money back abroad.

Mainland media report that the coronavirus outbreak will have a limited impact on the Belt and Road project, given that the initiative still led to many new contracts in the January-March period. But construction could face further delays if host countries continue to limit the entry of foreigners. This in turn could hurt Southeast Asia's growth and its appeal to foreign investor

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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by FrazeeDK » May 5, 2020, 2:33 pm

I don't think it slowed down the Lao section of the rail project too much. The last update I read said that since the Chinese railway workers couldn't go back to China they would continue on building. They were laying 500 meter sections of rail not too long ago. I imagine all the sleepers, rails and ancillary equipment were already staged in Lao.

As for SRT's "delay" on the final contract signing for one leg of the high speed rail, that is just one of many over the last 2 years. Remember the first contract covered just a few kilometers of track an spurs in Khorat Province near Pak Chong. That's still not finished after a couple of years of work...
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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by FrazeeDK » May 5, 2020, 2:35 pm

and here's an article from April 24th on the Mekong Rail bridge near Luang Prabang. Scroll down to the bottom on the article for a further link to a story dated 04/30 on boring through the 3rd longest tunnel on the route
https://eng.yidaiyilu.gov.cn/qwyw/rdxw/123829.htm
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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by the-monk » May 5, 2020, 2:47 pm

Thanks

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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by FrazeeDK » May 6, 2020, 8:06 pm

a rollup on the project out of Khasod.. https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/int ... -pandemic/
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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by FrazeeDK » May 26, 2020, 8:51 pm

chugging right along laying track up on the Lao to China railway. Track laid 60km north of Vientiane and through the first tunnel of about 140 heading north... https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1189250.shtml They say they're laying 1.5 kilometers a day using 500 meter continuous rail segments.. Pretty much all mechanized. Now the signalling gear.. I wonder if they'll get it partially operational some time this year, perhaps the segment Vientiane to Vang Vieng... They'd have to find a way to ship in the engines and carriages though...
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Re: Lao Railway Progress

Post by FrazeeDK » May 27, 2020, 8:03 pm

saw a number of flatbed trucks on the east side ring road today (Wed 0527) heading north all carrying what appeared to be 25 meter Standard Gauge Railway rails. Gotta be heading to Laos.. I wonder if the bridge is open for commercial items such as those or if they're stockpiling them in a warehouse yard in Nong Khai..?
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