Metropolitan Manila (or Metro Manila) is the name used for the greater Manila area. Manila is comprised of 16 cities and 1 municipality that form the National Capital Region (NCR). When referring to Manila it could refer to Manila City (one of the cities of the NCR) or Metro Manila as a whole. Either way, […]
Latest posts at Future Southeast Asia
PNR South Long Haul: Rebuilding the PNR South Main Line (Bicol Express) in Luzon
The PNR South Long Haul (PNR Bicol) is a project to reconstruct the railway in Southern Luzon in the Philippines. The line will start at Banlic station in Calamba, Laguna and it will terminate at Daraga, Albay. The line will be 565 km in length with 35 stations, and passenger trains will travel at a […]
Bangkok construction update – 2022 edition
The bad urban design of Forest City: Malaysia’s futuristic city making the same mistakes as its old cities
Forest City is an artificial island project in Malaysia, located in the Johor strait opposite Singapore. It was supposed to be a futuristic green city, but it’s already making the same mistakes of the badly-planned cities of Malaysia. Forest City is car-centric and not built with pedestrians or cyclists in mind. It also looks like […]
Kuantan Skytrain
The Kuantan Skytrain is a proposed urban rail transit system in Kuantan in Pahang State, Malaysia. The proposal includes three rail lines with a total distance of 54.5 km: Line 1: Menara Kuantan 188 to KOTASA (approx 12.5 km). Line 2: Menara Kuantan 188 to Teluk Cempedak (approx 10 km). Line 3: KOTASA to the […]
Bali Railway Concept Map
There have been numerous proposals over the years for a Bali railway. Every announcement is archived on the Bali Railway page, which goes back to at least 2011. To visualise what a Bali rail system would look like, I present this Bali railway concept map. [View and download the full-size map.] This is a concept […]
Hue Tramway: connecting the airport, train station and old city
The Hue Tramway is a proposed tram network in Hue, Vietnam. The tramway was discussed by the Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI) and Vietnam Postal Media JSC with leaders of Thừa Thiên Huế province in August 2022. The presentation video shows four tram lines: Train Tram (Blue) City Tram – Line 1 (Red) City Tram […]
Southeast Asia Railways Report – 2022 edition
This is an overview of Southeast Asia railway projects under construction or that have been in the news over the last year. Projects that are planned but haven’t made any progress over the last year are not mentioned. There is an ongoing list of future projects on the railways page. This list is for national […]
Hanoi construction update – 2022 edition
Hanoi building and transport projects under construction in 2022. Quang An Peninsula redevelopment, Starlake (Tay Ho Tay New Town), VietinBank Business Center (on hold), Sunshine City, Ciputra, historic Post Equipment Factory demolition, and Hanoi Train Street update. On my most recent visit to Hanoi I started exploring some of the new urban areas. After putting […]
The ticketing mess of Bangkok’s rail transit
The rail transit system of Bangkok is operated by three separate companies, and each company issues tickets that are only valid for their own line. I’ve previously covered the station transfer mess of Bangkok’s rail transit. This article covers the ticketing mess of Bangkok’s rail transit. The ticketing mess The mass transit system of Bangkok […]
