At a press briefing on Wednesday, an under-secretary confirmed that final agreements over the link are being hammered out between the two nations' transport ministries. Ly Borin carried on by saying these should be signed off on before year’s end.
He explained that Cambodia still had a few things to do before the official opening. The first and most important is laying a final kilometre of track. The two other tasks are finishing off a new station in Poipet and agreeing customs duty rates with Thailand.
12GO ASIA says the last trains to run between Cambodia and Thailand departed just after WWII. The French colonial government of the time scrapped services operating beyond Battambang.
The line used to carry on to Poipet. This town is on the Cambodia-Thailand border and a few kilometres from the Thai town of Aranyaprathet. Our image of a Royal Railway train at Phnom Penh Station was supplied by Asia Life Magazine.
Restoration of Cambodia Thailand rail link inches closer to reality
News in Asia
A spokesperson for Cambodia’s transport-minister says the official ceremony to mark the opening of a rail link to Thailand is likely to take place in early 2018. The rail line will eventually connect the capital cities of the two nations, Phnom Penh and Bangkok.