MC Signs Rolling Stock Contracts with Myanma Railways

TOKYO, Dec 08, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is pleased to announce that it has signed two contracts with Myanmar's state-run railway, Myanma Railways to deliver it new units of rolling stock. The first is for 66 cars that will be used in the Yangon Circular Railway (YCR) Project, and the second is for 180 cars that will be used in the Yangon-Mandalay Railway (YM) Project.

Railway Car

The total cost of both projects is approximately 69 billion yen, which will be covered by an international-yen-loan agreement between the governments of Japan and Myanmar. The cars, which will include Japanese components and equipment, will be built by Spain's largest manufacturer of rolling stock, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A. They will be delivered to Myanmar in stages between 2023 and 2025.

The YCR Project is part of the overall plan to upgrade and modernize the Yangon Circular Railway. The cars delivered by MC will run on the approximately 46 kilometers of track that loop around central Yangon, Myanmar's largest commercial metropolis. At present, it takes a train roughly 170 minutes to complete the loop, but the modernization plan should cut that to about 110 minutes.

The YM Project is part of Phase 2 of the work being done to improve the Yangon-Mandalay Railway Line. The cars delivered by MC will run on the approximately 620 kilometers of track that connect Yangon to Myanmar's second-largest city of Mandalay by way of the country's capital, Naypyidaw. The improvements to the line will almost halve the current 15-hour journey, cutting it to roughly eight hours.

MC welcomes this opportunity to leverage its experience and know-how in international rail projects to help upgrade public transportation in Myanmar. By assisting with work to provide citizens with more convenient mobility solutions, MC is doing its part to accelerate economic development in the Southeast Asian country. Furthermore, by backing exports of high-quality infrastructure systems and proactively engaging in railway projects, the Japanese government is also striving to better the region's quality of life and address the challenges that face it, including traffic congestion.

Source: Mitsubishi Corporation
Sectors: Transport & Logistics