Southeast Asia urban rail transit report – 2023

Phnom Penh Metro, fixing Manila’s decades of neglect, Bangkok-centric development continues in Thailand and the Khon Kaen light rail, maybe the HCMC Metro in 2023, and my pick for best transit proposal of the year.

Welcome to the inaugural urban rail transit report for Southeast Asia. This will be an annual report, similar to the annual airport report and railways report.

This report is a summary of every urban rail transit system that is planned or under construction in Southeast Asia. It covers progress that was made over the last year and lists lines that are expected to be completed in the next year. It has news links along with my own editorial.

A full list of proposed lines can be found on the urban rail transit page. Many of these proposals are dormant, so this report only lists projects that made the news over the last year. You can also refer to the table of current urban rail systems in Southeast Asia.

🇰🇭 Cambodia

Phnom Penh

There is no urban railway in Phnom Penh (though there was briefly an airport rail link), but plans are in motion. A study on a rail project for Phnom Penh was completed in 2022, and a decision on the transit type (sky train, monorail, or subway) is expected this year.

The full news archive can be found at Phnom Penh Metro.

🇮🇩 Indonesia

Jakarta

If I had a dollar for every news site that ran a story about Jakarta being abandoned because they are building a new capital in the jungle, then I could probably buy a plane ticket to Jakarta with those accumulated dollars.

It’s still business as usual in Jakarta, even if the administrative capital is moving.

Phase 2 of the Jakarta MRT (Bundaran HI to Kota) is under construction, and it has predictably been hit by cost overruns and land issues.

Japan, Britain, and South Korea signed agreements to further develop the Jakarta MRT, including the construction of the MRT’s East-West corridor.

The Greater Jakarta LRT is a 43.3 km line that will connect Jakarta to Bogor, Depok and Bekasi. The most recent estimate has an opening date of July 2023.

🇲🇾 Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur continues to grow its urban rail network in the Klang Valley, and it now has the most lines of any transit system in SE Asia.

The big news of the last year was the opening of Phase One of the MRT Putrajaya Line, which began on 16 June 2022. Phase Two is expected to open in March 2023.

The Shah Alam Line (LRT3) opening date has been moved from late 2023 to 2024. Concerns have been raised over the accessibility of the stations.

KL will also earn the distinction of closing a line this year. The Skypark Link service between KL Sentral and Subang Skypark will be temporarily suspended from 15 February.

Johor Bahru

The Rapid Transit System Link (RTS Link) project between Johor Bahru and Singapore is under construction, and the latest estimate says it will commence commercial operations in January 2027.

A light rail transit (LRT) project has also been proposed for Johor.

Kuching

Kuching is building out the Autonomous Rail Transit (ART), which is basically a tram with rubber wheels. It has its own dedicated track, so it is not a bus masquerading as a tram. It also runs on hydrogen, so I am looking forward to seeing this oddball hybrid transit machine in action. The Sarawak premier announced that the ART will start service in Q4 2025.

The full news archive can be found at Autonomous Rail Transit (ART) Kuching.

Penang

Progress of the Bayan Lepas LRT has been slow going, and there have been dissenting voices during the year that want to turn it into an autonomous road tram (which is a fancy way of saying Bus Rapid Transit). The most recent update says that construction of the Bayan Lepas LRT is expected to start in Q4 2023. I hope that the Future Southeast Asia transit report for 2024 includes this as a new line under construction, but I know better than to get my hopes up.

Ipoh

There was a report that the Ipoh city council was exploring the option of an autonomous rail system. This appears to be an idea that was thought out loud rather than a concrete proposal.

Kuantan

My pick for “best transit proposal of the year” would have to go to the Kuantan Skytrain project. The Pahang government has signed an MoU for the Kuantan Skytrain development project of three rail lines with a total distance of 54.5 km.

On the one hand, this sounds like a crazy idea to build a 3-line system in a city of 600,000 people. On the other hand, Kuantan is the gateway city to the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The East Coast Rail Link will meet the coast here, and there is also a new airport under construction. The transit system would connect the railway station and airport to Kuantan, making it the hub of the east coast. Perhaps this is what is needed to shift development and population to the east.

The full news archive can be found at Kuantan Skytrain.

🇵🇭 Philippines

Manila

Looking at the Manila lines listed in the table, there was a new line added in the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. The once-a-decade run was then broken, with no lines added since. Coming up to April this year, it will be 20 years since a new line was added to Metro Manila. No wonder the traffic is so bad.

Manila is making up for this lost time with 4 new lines under construction.

The North-South Commuter Railway will pass through Metro Manila, connecting Clark Airport to the future renovated PNR South Long Haul. The Malolos-Clark segment is now expected to open in 2025.

After numerous delays, the Metro Manila Subway began tunnelling on 10 January 2023. Partial opening has been moved to 2025.

The DOTr is targeting full MRT-7 operations by 2024-2025.

The Makati Intra-City Subway project has a new expected completion year of 2025.

Metro Manila will also get a new transit hub this year with the opening of the Unified Grand Central Station.

Cebu

Cebu City is still considering a monorail (more details here).

🇸🇬 Singapore

Singapore continues to be a model for urban transit development by building new lines and planning for the future.

The Thomson East Coast MRT line Stage 3 opened in Nov 2022, and Stage 4 and Stage 5 are expected to open in 2024 and 2025 respectively. 

2023 got off to a flying start with work on the Cross Island Line beginning (ready by 2030) and the Jurong Region Line beginning (first section open by 2027).

🇹🇭 Thailand

Thailand is still Bangkok-centric with its urban railway development, with no urban railway systems under construction in the provinces.

Bangkok

Bangkok saw no new lines open in 2022, with delays continuing on the construction of the Pink and Yellow monorail lines.

The Pink Line and Yellow Line are now expected to partially open in February 2023. I will visit those when they open and see what the station transfers look like.

The eastern section of the Orange Line was supposed to be opened by 2023, but it has a new opening date of 2024. Questions have been raised over the Orange Line’s western expansion construction contract. I have compiled a list of every Bangkok metro map (official and unofficial), so I will be watching these maps to see which ones update with the Pink and Yellow lines in 2023.

January 2023 saw the official opening of Bang Sue Grand Station (now renamed as Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal). This is the main railway station of Bangkok, and it has transit stops with the MRT Blue Line and SRT Dark Red and SRT Light Red commuter lines.

3-airport high-speed rail link has a new estimated completion date of 2029.

Phuket

The Phuket Light Rail project was the only provincial transit line that looked like getting started, but it has been derailed again.

Khon Kaen

I was in Khon Kaen in February 2022 while the city was displaying their plan for a light rail. Khon Kaen might be the provincial capital that surprises everyone by being the first transit system outside of Bangkok.

A report at the start of 2022 said that Khon Kaen will roll out a trial of a new light rail network in the middle of the year. There were no other details offered about how this would work, especially considering that no tracks had been laid.

Read more about the Khon Kaen Transit System.

Pattaya

Pattaya is still planning a monorail project (read more here).

🇻🇳 Vietnam

Vietnam continues to be the disappointing laggard of the pack, with only 1 line in Hanoi operating so far. Nikkei Asia ran an article about how “clueless bureaucracy bloats project costs and delays completion dates”.

Hanoi

The oddly-named Line 2A opened in November 2021, so I got to ride Vietnam’s first metro line in 2022. I also posted a Hanoi metro annual report in 2022.

Line 3 is the only new line that is being built at the moment. It was supposed to be running by now, but this line has also faced delays and cost blowouts. Test runs began in December 2022, and the first phase of Line 3 is expected to open in 2023. If I time my annual Hanoi visit right, I will do another review this year.

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City Line 1 began construction in 2012, and it was expected to open in 2016. Every year since 2016, the opening date has been pushed back another year. The latest estimate puts the opening at the end of 2023. I’m an optimist by nature, but that old saying comes to mind:

“Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”

I’ve been fooled a few times since 2016, so I’m now resigned to it being perpetually delayed. I will be all the more delighted when I am finally taking a ride as a passenger, whenever that may be.

I have been based part-time in Ho Chi Minh City since 2012, so all I have known since being here is an unfinished metro.

This delayed metro line inspired me to compile a list of construction time and costs of first metro systems. I have updated the list to include the opening date of 31 December 2023. Even at that date, it is not the slowest metro build when calculating line length divided by construction days (Hanoi has the crown for the slowest line construction).

I did a 2022 construction update for the Ho Chi Minh City Metro. I am undecided whether I should do another one this year or wait until the metro (hopefully) opens.