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 research trips for Future Southeast Asia.
Travel update
Instead of getting a direct flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Melbourne, I flew to KL so I could try out the new electric railway service from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru.
SGN to KUL is one of my most flown routes. It was a bit of a gamble to fly on the last weekend of the Lunar New Year, and normally, I would avoid air travel at this time.
It took 40 minutes to clear immigration and security at SGN, which was fast considering the overflowing queue. It still baffles me that there isn’t a separate queue for Vietnamese and foreign passports.
KUL can also be bad on holidays, so I was prepared for the worst. The worst thing about the budget terminal is how narrow the walkways are, despite it being a massive terminal.
[Cramped space of KUL T2]
The good news is that there are now e-gates for select passports. Even with a big queue, I was out in 5 minutes. This makes a huge difference in your spirits by not having to queue for an hour. There are no passport stamps, but considering my last passport was retired early due to repeat visits, I am happy to save pages.
[Passports eligible for e-gates at KUL.]
The best feature of KUL is the airport train, which is the best in Southeast Asia. I hope that the new airport for Ho Chi Minh City (Long Thanh International Airport) will have gates and an express airport rail link.
[Onboard the KL Ekspres.]
The electric train from KL to JB is a great improvement over the old diesel service that used to operate on this line.
From JB, I got the shuttle train to Woodlands in Singapore, and then the MRT to central Singapore. The new electric train makes the trip faster, but it is still a hassle with three different trains to get to Singapore. I will have a review of the new train service coming up.
I flew out of Singapore, and there is currently an exhibition at the airport for the Terminal 5 project (T5 In the Making Exhibition). It’s worth a visit if you are at the airport and have time. The exhibition includes a display model, and I counted 75 airbridges.
[Model of T5 Changi Airport.]
Here is the Changi Airport T5 project page.
Future Southeast Asia Site update
I’m still in the process of transferring the newsletter from news.futuresoutheastasia.com to futuresoutheastasia.com. One of the issues has been that I have been using the old WordPress system at futuresoutheastasia.com. I can only use the newsletter service with the new WordPress editor (which is years old now). The good news is that I can add more features to the site by using the new editor.
Once everything is migrated, I can start tinkering with site design. I was reading this article about making maps with AI tools, which required using the current WordPress editor. This list migration will enable me to add new features to the site.
Weekly news
The weekly newsletter is now posted at futuresoutheastasia.com for paid subscribers. Upgrade to Premium to get the monthly newsletter.
Here are the last month’s issues of the weekly newsletter:
• 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.
• Future Southeast Asia News [18 Feb 2026]
Indonesia to use state budget to repay Whoosh high-speed rail debt, Savannakhet’s 270-meter wooden bridge faces final season, Malaysia’s new rail system stages preview run, Thai–Chinese high-speed rail phase 1 hits 51%, Vietnam proposes expressway link between Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh.
• Future Southeast Asia News [11 Feb 2026]
Public parks in Phnom Penh, MRT East-West corridor to strengthen Jakarta as global city, redevelopment project in George Town heritage area, Myanmar opens Dala Bridge, demo run of Metro Manila Subway set on 2028, JB-Singapore RTS Link arrives at Woodlands North, Don Mueang-Suvarnabhumi expansion, Da Nang maps out MRT/LRT lines in urban railway network.
• Future Southeast Asia News [4 Feb 2026]
Construction firms push back Funan Techo Canal construction, Nusantara is not a ghost town, KL must safeguard its green spaces, reviving the Mindanao railway project, Singapore MRT Circle Line 6 extension, Suvarnabhumi Airport expansion, Phu Quoc launches $2.6B mega hotel projects for APEC 2027.
Article updates
Here are some articles that have been updated this month.
The Thai Land Bridge proposal lives on (for now)
Updated: Why the Thai Land Bridge is a bad idea
There was an election in Thailand this month, which usually brings out the most extravagant infrastructure proposals. The Thai Land Bridge is still being supported by the government, and there has been some news about it.
I updated my article on why the Thai Land Bridge is a bad idea to include possible freight train lengths. I found this article about the longest freight train in India:
“Indian Railways launched the ‘Rudrastra’ freight train in 2025, which is said to be the longest freight train in Asia. The train stretches nearly 4.5 kilometres with 354 wagons and is powered by seven locomotives. That equals 708 TEU per train, so a ship with 14,000 TEU would need 20 trains that can haul 354 40-foot containers at a time.”
This is just for one container ship, so imagine how many trains are needed to service several container ships a day in each direction.
Vientiane’s short-lived BRT
Updated: Vientiane BRT – Urban Transit System
“The BRT initially launched as a free trial during November’s That Luang Festival but has since entered an indefinite suspension, with no official timeline for resumption.”
The BRT runs down the main north-south road in the city, and it involves dedicated lanes for the BRT. There are not enough roads for cross-town traffic in Vientiane, so I couldn’t see how it was going to work.
When the Udon Thani to Vientiane train service was announced, it didn’t seem like a service that would attract many passengers. I rode it not long after it opened, and the service was discontinued shortly thereafter.
I felt that the BRT service would not last long either, so I wanted to see it in action before it closed. Unfortunately, it closed before I could visit.
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