Thailand is spending billions of baht in double tracking its antiquated metre-gauge railway network, which will not significantly improve train speeds. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s grand master plan is making Thailand’s plan look mediocre by comparison. Here is what Thailand is planning, and what they should do instead. In 2017, the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy […]
Phnom Penh trip report (December 2025)
Flying into the new airport of Phnom Penh (and getting the reasonably efficient airport bus), part-time pedestrian walk adds some much-needed public space, interesting skyscrapers (ie not boring blue boxes), and fake Paris update. I visited Phnom Penh in December 2025, which was a year since my last visit. My previous trip involved getting the […]
Future Southeast Asia News [11 Mar 2026]
Future Southeast Asia News [4 Mar 2026]
Cambodia approves new Ratanakiri airport, Indonesia to reactivate 12,000 km of railway lines, Trans-Borneo Railway feasibility study expected by mid-year, Visayas-Mindanao link feasibility study underway, U-Tapao Airport project to kick off on April 3, Vietnam PM orders emergency construction of HCMC-Long Thanh railway link.
Future Southeast Asia: February 2026
Travel update, Future Southeast Asia newsletter migration, and a summary of the last month’s newsletters. Article updates include The Thai Land Bridge proposal lives on (for now), and Vientiane’s short-lived BRT. Greetings from Australia! I’m back in my homeland for a short visit, and I will be returning to Southeast Asia next month to resume […]
Line 2 HCMC Metro
Line 2 of the Ho Chi Minh City Metro (HCMC Metro) is the under-construction second line of the Ho Chi Minh City transit system. Phase 1 will go from Ben Thanh Station (interchanging with Line 1) to Tham Luong. The total length is 11.3 km (9.3 km underground and 2 km elevated) with 11 stations […]
Future Southeast Asia News [25 Feb 2026]
Revised Penang LRT, Metro Cebu Subway feasibility study in Oct 2026, first Thai-built light rail tram begins test runs in Khon Kaen, new passenger terminal for Dili Airport, HCMC plans 99-story tower for international financial center in Thu Thiem.
Ho Chi Minh City – Can Tho Railway (Mekong Delta Railway)
The Mekong Delta Railway is a planned railway from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho. This guide covers ongoing updates of this line and other proposed railways in the Mekong Delta. Map of Mekong Delta and proposed railway stations This map includes possible stations on the Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho railway, […]
Bangkok trip report (2025 edition)
The largest urban rooftop garden in Thailand, boring blue boxes (a panacea for the blight of boring blue boxes), the apartment where you can drive to your living room, the Chinatown new urban area (and a new Chinatown arch), Orange Line update, and building a floodwater tunnel under a canal. This is my annual Bangkok […]
Khon Kaen Transit System – The proposed light rail transit (LRT) in Khon Kaen
The Khon Kaen Transit System (KKTS) is a proposed light rail transit (LRT) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Khon Kaen Khon in the Isaan region of Northeast Thailand. A BRT system of 4 lines was proposed in 2012, and in 2015 the plan was changed to convert the North-South Red BRT line into a […]
