Future Southeast Asia Site News: March 2026

Travel plans and meetups, newsletter migration update, and a summary of the last month’s newsletters. Article updates include the proposed Chiang Mai LRT might start with an easy section first, and the Vientiane – Vung Ang Railway moves forward (with an impressive railway model to go with it).

Travel plans and meetups

Greetings from Da Nang! After seeing my family in Australia and attending to other life and business admin duties, I returned to Vietnam and spent most of March in Da Nang.

Next month, I am taking some new (to me) train trips for research and general expansion of my transport knowledge in the region. I am getting the only international train from Vietnam (Hanoi to Nanning), and a high-speed train to Hong Kong (just to remind myself what high-speed feels like). I’m then going to Manila and then travelling overland through Luzon.

If you are in Hong Kong or Manila in April and want to meet up, send me a message, and I’ll see if our paths align.

Site updates and other sites I’m working on

I moved the newsletter from news.futuresoutheastasia.com (at Beehiiv) to futuresoutheastasia.com (at WordPress), but it has not been a smooth transition. It turns out some plugins in my WordPress setup broke the subscription function. WordPress support has been working out what to do, and they have found the problem, so hopefully it will be fully transferred next month.

I also moved my monthly newsletter about Southeast Asia railways to southeastasiarailways.com. This newsletter features new railway news as well as general travel articles that don’t get featured on Future Southeast Asia. Subscribe for monthly updates.

I spent a month in Ho Chi Minh City in January/February, which gave me time to update my hochiminhcitymetro.com site. I published a map last year of the future metro system, which is a replica of the map that is on display at the stations. This map is already out of date, but the official metro authority website doesn’t have any updated maps with the new lines and alignments.

The best map I have found so far is via VnExpress, who have published an updated map with 10 lines.

Weekly news

The weekly newsletter is now posted at futuresoutheastasia.com for paid subscribers. Upgrade to Premium to get the weekly news updates.

Here are the last month’s issues of the weekly newsletter:

• Future Southeast Asia News [25 Mar 2026]

Mekong region fuel shortages, Laos seeks approval for railway to Vietnam, Philippine rail revival, rethinking Bangkok’s busiest bus hub, Vietnam plans two new rail links to China.

• Future Southeast Asia News [18 Mar 2026]

Kratie Mekong Bridge nears completion, President Prabowo wants all train stations to be modernized, Laos eyes BRT expansion to airport and railway station, ECRL tracks laid from Kota Bharu to Gombak, Panay–Guimaras–Negros Bridge construction set for 2027, Bangkok metro projects update, Hanoi considers second airport.

• Future Southeast Asia News [11 Mar 2026]

Redesign of former Phnom Penh Airport, Fifth and Sixth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridges, Penang tackles land acquisition and relocation for Mutiara Line LRT, Bangkok Southern Purple Line and Western Orange Line on track for 2030 opening, investor selected for Phan Thiet Airport civil aviation project.

• 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.

Article updates

The proposed Chiang Mai LRT might start with an easy section first

Updated: Chiang Mai Mass Transit – Proposed 3-line light rail system

After over a year of no updates, Chiang Mai has announced a plan for the light rail transit. The line is the proposed 5 km southern extension of the Red Line.

The line isn’t particularly useful by itself, but it appears to be the easiest section to build of the Red Line, which will include ground-level and underground sections.

I walked the entire length of the proposed Red Line last year, and the road at the southern end of the line has enough room to sacrifice some lanes for a tramway.

This photo shows where the original alignment ends, with the proposed extension continuing along this road.

While it makes sense to start the line at the end instead of in the middle, there is a danger of the most useful section (from the airport to the old city) not being built. This would leave a 5 km tram line in the suburbs that doesn’t solve any traffic problems.

This transit system has been proposed since at least the early 2000’s, so if you are just finding out about this proposal, then don’t get too excited about it yet.

The Vientiane – Vung Ang Railway moves forward (with an impressive railway model to go with it)

Updated: Vientiane – Vung Ang Railway: proposed railway connecting landlocked Laos to a seaport

The Lao government has submitted a proposal to the National Assembly to move forward with the proposed railway from Vientiane to Vung Ang Port in Vietnam.

This has been planned for years, but it was good timing that they announced this while the country is grappling with fuel shortages. A direct link to a seaport will give landlocked Laos another path to import fuel.

This article (in Thai, translated here) shows an impressive model of the railway, including details of the mountains east of the Mekong River.