MYANMAR: Myanma Railways has awarded Mitsubishi Corp and Hitachi a contract to modernise the signalling on the 140 km Yangon – Pyuntasa route by June 2017.
The ¥2·4bn contract signed on May 15 is being funded by a grant from Japan International Cooperation Agency. The companies will supply electronic interlockings, traffic management and automated level crossing systems developed from technology used in Japan.
Hitachi said the age of the existing railway infrastructure means that improving the quality and safety of railway services ‘has become an urgent issue’, and upgrading is also needed to accommodate increasing demand for passenger and freight transport.
Myanma Railways is planning several infrastructure projects, including modernisation of the entire Yangon – Mandalay route as well as the Yangon loop, which connects with the section to be resignalled under the current contract.
- An in-depth article on plans to modernise the Myanma Railways network appeared in the August 2013 issue of Railway Gazette International magazine, which subscribers can read in the digital archive.
