The Train, Again....

[Bong Burgundy]

Cambodia News English
14 mins ·
Riding the Rails: Phnom Penh's Airport Train Is a Milestone for Cambodia

The fact that trains are rolling again in Cambodia marks a major milestone in the country’s rapid development — from 1994 to 2015, the economy grew by an average of 7.6% a year and the poverty rate dropped from around 50% to 13% from 2007 to 2014. Transport Minister Sun Chanthol labeled the airport train’s launch last month a source of “national pride.”

Cambodia has a national railway network, built in the 1930s. But the Southeast Asian country’s trains gradually fell into disuse following the rise of the Khmer Rouge, a genocidal agrarian regime that killed an estimated 20% of Cambodia’s population between 1975 and 1979, many at the infamous Killing Fields. For decades after the regime’s fall, ambushes by vestigial Khmer Rouge squads and other guerrillas were a regular menace on Cambodia’s train lines. Carriages were outfitted with armored plates, and kidnappings weren’t unheard of. Service ceased in 2002.

It took 11 years and millions of dollars to get the trains running again, much of it courtesy of a $143 million grant from the Asian Development Bank and the Australian government. Construction was beset by delays and cost overruns; a withering 2014 report by ADB’s internal watchdog found “major design flaws” in the undertaking, including a failure to adequately compensate nearly 4,000 families displaced by its construction. Many were already among the country’s poorest, living in slums beside the derelict tracks.

Since 1993, the tracks played host only to the occasional handmade, bamboo lorry, an interim fix to help transport locals, goods, and U.N. officials between remote villages. The bamboo carts remain, but these days its cargo is mostly tourists riding the tracks for fun. Freight service resumed from the capital to the southern port of Sihanoukville in 2013. Passenger services followed in 2016. A 241-mile line under construction will extend to the Thai border and on to Bangkok, bridging a segment of China’s long-planned Kunming-Singapore regional rail network, which is hoped to one day link national railways from Yunnan province to the tip of the Malaysian peninsula and from Myanmar to Vietnam. Still, completion is a long way off.

Road space is at a premium as the train shuttles to the airport in Phnom Penh.
Road space is at a premium as the train shuttles to the airport in Phnom Penh. Eli Meixler—Time
And then there’s the airport tram, intended to relieve the capital’s traffic-choked roads and cut a 6-mile, hour long journey down to just 15 minutes.

It was closer to 45 minutes on a recent trip. The sole, rattling coach, more like a city trolley car, stopped for lorries and livestock as it ground past fields and factories in Phnom Penh’s outer suburbs.

Residents along the path are less than pleased by the progress, and the round-the-clock cacophony of a tram chugging through their neighborhood every 30 minutes, 24 hours per day. There’s also been a dramatic uptick in traffic accidents as drivers contend with a new challenge — the tracks. Many are unsure how to negotiate the metal rails embedded in the pavement without getting a wheel stuck. On a recent morning, at least a dozen motorbikes topple over in the course of about two hours.

Sem Channimol, 30, runs a roadside pharmacy along the rail’s final leg in a populous neighborhood beside the airport. In recent weeks, she says, her counter shop has become something of an emergency trauma ward, as the victims of motorcycle accidents pile up in her doorway, “all scratched up, with broken bones.”

“I want to move away from this area, but this is all I have,” Channimol says. “Everyone around here is angry but there’s nothing we can do it about it.”

Royal Railways’ Australian CEO John Guiry insists that the road bearing the coach is “a much better street now,” repaved with yellow warning stripes surrounding the tracks.

“I think a lot of it was just the first three or four weeks of everyone getting used to everyone,” he tells TIME.

The sun sets on Cambodia's newest public transit service, but the rides are just beginning.
The sun sets on Cambodia's newest public transit service, but the rides are just beginning. Eli Meixler—Time The sun sets on Cambodia's newest public transit service.
But the railways have historically had a deadly impact on the communities they traverse. A woman was struck and killed by the airport train on May 18, according to local media reports. Dozens more have been injured or killed in road accidents with trains in Cambodia’s rural provinces. People being run over after falling asleep on the tracks is also not uncommon.

Full story:
http://time.com/5267530/cambodia-airpor ... hnom-penh/

[Jep]

Excellent. That is progress. On The Rails In Phnom Penh. ,toot ,toot.

[spitthedog]

Must be pretty hard to get struck by a Cambodian train no? How fast do they go? We are not talking Cambodian bullet trains.

The roads on the other hand..

"Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough." - Mark Zuckerberg

[ali baba]

People are tripping over the tracks, spitthedog. Easy to do when on 2 wheels. There are many examples of this happening all over the world, especially if you count trams.

[Lucky Lucan]

Cambodia has a national railway network, built in the 1930s. But the Southeast Asian country’s trains gradually fell into disuse following the rise of the Khmer Rouge, a genocidal agrarian regime that killed an estimated 20% of Cambodia’s population between 1975 and 1979, many at the infamous Killing Fields. For decades after the regime’s fall, ambushes by vestigial Khmer Rouge squads and other guerrillas were a regular menace on Cambodia’s train lines. Carriages were outfitted with armored plates, and kidnappings weren’t unheard of. Service ceased in 2002.

The southern branch was built in the 1960s. I'm pretty sure it ran long after 2002 as well?

[drwahwah]

Cambodia has a national railway network, built in the 1930s. But the Southeast Asian country’s trains gradually fell into disuse following the rise of the Khmer Rouge, a genocidal agrarian regime that killed an estimated 20% of Cambodia’s population between 1975 and 1979, many at the infamous Killing Fields. For decades after the regime’s fall, ambushes by vestigial Khmer Rouge squads and other guerrillas were a regular menace on Cambodia’s train lines. Carriages were outfitted with armored plates, and kidnappings weren’t unheard of. Service ceased in 2002.

The southern branch was built in the 1960s. I'm pretty sure it ran long after 2002 as well?

Trains were running PP to BattamBang until 2009, they stopped earlier on southern branch

[ricecakes]

Family and I just caught the train from Hanoi to the coast - off at Thanh Hoa and then taxi to Som San.

Train ride down was unreal. Paid about $60 for a 4 berth sleeper / 3 hour ride. Super clean and comfy , we played UNO and I smashed 9 beers which was excellent until I had to piss and then trying to aim into a squatter as the train rocked side to side at 100 kmh was a tad challenging.

We missed the train home and spent the night in Thanh Hoa which was actually alot of fun. The town square was very busy on the Sunday night and we ate steamed chicken and ....yup...more beer. Kids played on the jumping castle etc with all the local little heathens.

Train back was again a sleeper but this time much older and decidedly more tired.

Train travel is a great way to go.

[slavedog]

I took a ride round there on my bicycle this morning. The street is a lot better than it was before the train, apart from the bit near the junction that isn't finished yet. Can't see what the residents are complaining about.

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[Hanno]

Family and I just caught the train from Hanoi to the coast - off at Thanh Hoa and then taxi to Som San.

Train ride down was unreal. Paid about $60 for a 4 berth sleeper / 3 hour ride. Super clean and comfy , we played UNO and I smashed 9 beers which was excellent until I had to piss and then trying to aim into a squatter as the train rocked side to side at 100 kmh was a tad challenging.

We missed the train home and spent the night in Thanh Hoa which was actually alot of fun. The town square was very busy on the Sunday night and we ate steamed chicken and ....yup...more beer. Kids played on the jumping castle etc with all the local little heathens.

Train back was again a sleeper but this time much older and decidedly more tired.

Train travel is a great way to go.

I travel to Sa Pa by train 2-3 times a month and hate it. The train itself is nice but it is still running on a narrow-gage track built by the French so the think is see-sawing all over the place.

100 kmh? No train in Vietnam comes even close to that. Thank Hoa is 175 kilometers away meaning an average speed of just over 60kmh.

[Ot Mean Loi]

Hardly the pride of Cambodia when viewed here as very third world.

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50486276/t ... ugs-along/

I've made this trip twice. But just for the novelty facto with two young Cambodian girls I co-sponsor.

OML

[ricecakes]

100 kmh? No train in Vietnam comes even close to that.

You Germans don't do random guesstimates do you ?

How the fuck would I know how fast i was going ! . All I know is the train was rocking like a bastard and it was all I could do to NOT piss all over my foot !!

[Alexandra]

we played UNO and I smashed 9 beers

No WiFi then?

[slavedog]

Hardly the pride of Cambodia when viewed here as very third world.

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50486276/t ... ugs-along/

I've made this trip twice. But just for the novelty facto with two young Cambodian girls I co-sponsor.

OML

Yes, it looks awful, a noisy old loco pulling a single ancient carriage, not very good for the country's image. I guess they just couldn't wait for the new equipment to arrive.

[The Window Licker]

Family and I just caught the train from Hanoi to the coast - off at Thanh Hoa and then taxi to Som San.

Train ride down was unreal. Paid about $60 for a 4 berth sleeper / 3 hour ride. Super clean and comfy , we played UNO and I smashed 9 beers which was excellent until I had to piss and then trying to aim into a squatter as the train rocked side to side at 100 kmh was a tad challenging.

Uno?
Is that not, like, snap for spastics?