October 29, 2008
Jaunted
War-torn, poor and corrupt Cambodia is sometimes thought of as the missing link in rapidly developing Southeast Asia. But at least when it comes to train travel, the designation might soon end.
Currently, the national railroad’s cars chug along rickety rails at a sluggish 18 miles per hour. And riding the train carries about the same risk of death as hopping the NYC subway in the 1980s. Now, an Australian rail company is planning to purchase and overhaul the system, renovating the cars and adding new lines. Right now, long stretches of missing track prohibit train travel throughout the country except for trips between Battambang and Phnom Penh, and even then, the lumbering, open cars are subject to robberies.
The 30-year contract will split profits between the Aussie firm and Cambodia’s government, and the upgrades should be complete within three years. Seems like an optimistic time line for a country still fumbling around with its attempts try Khmer Rouge cadres for crimes they committed in the 1970s, but if the project works, maybe by 2050 Cambodia will have its own Danube Express.
Currently, the national railroad’s cars chug along rickety rails at a sluggish 18 miles per hour. And riding the train carries about the same risk of death as hopping the NYC subway in the 1980s. Now, an Australian rail company is planning to purchase and overhaul the system, renovating the cars and adding new lines. Right now, long stretches of missing track prohibit train travel throughout the country except for trips between Battambang and Phnom Penh, and even then, the lumbering, open cars are subject to robberies.
The 30-year contract will split profits between the Aussie firm and Cambodia’s government, and the upgrades should be complete within three years. Seems like an optimistic time line for a country still fumbling around with its attempts try Khmer Rouge cadres for crimes they committed in the 1970s, but if the project works, maybe by 2050 Cambodia will have its own Danube Express.
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8 injured in Yala bombing
By The Nation
Yala
Eight people, including three soldiers, were injured when a powerful bomb went off near the entrance of a fresh market in Yala's Muang district, sending a shock-wave through out the security apparatus that more soft targets will come under attack.
Authorities immediately cut off traffic routes leading to and from the fresh market for fear that a second bomb was go off. Such tactics have become common in the three southernmost provinces where insurgency violence have so far claimed the lives of more than 3,400 people.
Pol Colonel Poompetch Pipatpetpoom, deputy commander of Yala Provincial Police, said the bombing was in response to the authorities' crackdown on insurgent cells.
Police found at the crime scene pieces of a metal box with traces of explosive materials, along with pieces of mobile phone. This led them to believe that the bomb was set off remotely by a culprit with line of vision to the bomb.
The bomb was set off just as three security officers were within the immediate area of where the bomb was placed. The three soldiers, all of whom member of Yala 11th Task Force, were sent to the provincial hospital. They were part of a 12-man unit that had just completed their routine patrol in the backroads of the province.
The bomb attack came one day after Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat completed his visit to the region. A spree of violence greeted the prime minister and the Army chief General Anupong Paochinda.
Somchai told reporters that security situation has been improving and downplayed the need for structural reform for the Malay-speaking South.
...It is good to hear that an Austalian componay wants to invest in the rolling stocks in Cambodia.Hope this will contribute to Cambodia developments.
Cambodian leaders have too many third world mentality and they can never get any done!
Cambodian leaders have too many third world mentality and they can never get any done!
it's good to have a rich westernized country help cambodia with the railway system as cambodia needs it.
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