Cambodia reports launch of Phnom Penh Bangkok train services delayed

A Cambodian government spokesperson says Phnom Penh to Bangkok train services are unlikely to be inaugurated any time soon. The Public Works and Transport Ministry’s Va Simsorya notes that although the track at the Poipet-Aranyaprathet border crossing has been reconnected, work on other parts of the line is behind schedule.

The 120km section of the line from Battambang to Poipet is still unfinished. Va Simsorya says the Poipet to Sisophon stretch will be completed first and the remainder of the track as far as Battambang should be laid by year’s end.

The Poipet to Sisophon segment was due to be completed six months ago, yet is still incomplete. Transport ministry undersecretary Ly Borin explained there were three main reasons the project was behind schedule.

The first was that construction work and track-laying had been delayed during last year’s rainy season. The second and third reasons were delays in parliamentary authorisation and protests by people living close to the line’s route.

Here at 12GO ASIA we are looking forward to the resumption of a train service which last ran in the 1940s. It will add another option to our current choice of flights or buses between the capitals of the neighbouring nations.

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