The Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed railway is a proposed extension of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway. The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway is 143 km in length and has an operating speed of 350 km/h. The distance from Jakarta to Surabaya is about 700 km, depending on the chosen route. The route is not set yet, but a southern route […]
Railways
Kota Kinabalu – Kudat Railway
Kota Kinabalu-Kudat rail project is a proposed railway connecting the capital of Sabah to the northern tip of Borneo. The 175km railway would be used for transporting agricultural products from Kudat to Kota Kinabalu, and there is also a port and industrial parks planned for Kudat. Kudat District is at the northern tip of the […]
Ho Chi Minh City – Tay Ninh light rail line
The Ho Chi Minh City-Tay Ninh light rail line (LRT) is a proposed railway connecting Ho Chi Minh City to Tay Ninh city in Tay Ninh province. The line was proposed by Sun Group to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee in October 2024. The light rail line would be built with a new […]
Hat Yai – Songkhla Railway
The Hat Yai – Songkhla Railway is a proposal to revive the old Hat Yai to Songkhla railway line in Southern Thailand. The distance between Hat Yai and Songkhla is about 29 km. Songkhla is the capital of Songkhla Province, though Hat Yai is the biggest city. The original line opened in 1917 and operated […]
Vietnam High-Speed Railway: North-South express railway project
The Vietnam high-speed railway is a proposed new railway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The North-South express railway will be 1,541 km in length, double-tracked standard-gauge electric railway with a top speed of 350 km/h. This will replace the current metre-gauge North–South passenger railway. The current Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City railway […]
Myths and realities of the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link
Why there won’t be a high-speed railway from Singapore to China, and how Thailand and Malaysia have set back a truly unified system by years. The Singapore-Kunming Rail Link (SKRL) is a planned network of railways to create a unified line from Kunming to Singapore. This is part of the Pan-Asian Railway, which envisions three […]
Indonesia railways report: 2024 edition
On my 2024 trip to Indonesia I had the distinction of riding the railways of Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi. These are the only islands in Indonesia with passenger railways, so it was good to see how the railways compare between the islands. This report is an overview of Indonesia’s railways as of 2024. Sumatra The […]
Java Rail Pass proposal: putting Java train travel on the world tourism map
The Java Rail Pass is a proposed tourist rail pass to promote train travel in Java and diversify tourism beyond Bali. The island of Java has one of the most extensive railway networks in Southeast Asia, yet it barely registers interest on an international level. Indonesian Railways (PT Kereta Api Indonesia) has a website that […]
How to fix Makkasan Station, Bangkok’s failed City Air Terminal
Makkasan Station is a station on the Airport Rail Link (ARL) connecting central Bangkok to Suvarnabhumi Airport. It’s a grand station from the outside, but on the inside it’s a ghost town. [City Air Terminal at Makkasan Station, now off-limits to passengers.] The station was built with check-in counters for flights, so you could check-in […]
How to fix KL Sentral: ideas to fix the worst station in Southeast Asia
Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station is going to be redeveloped at the end of 2024. Here are some ideas to improve the station. KL Sentral opened in 2001, replacing Kuala Lumpur Station as the central station. KL Sentral was designed to handle 100,000 commuters a day, but it’s now handling 200,000 commuters per day. After over […]
