The government of Cambodia unveiled an ambitious commitment yesterday to complete the restoration of the western rail line connecting Phnom Penh to Poipet before the end of the year, one day after a 48km passenger railway service from Poipet to Serey Sophorn was put into service.
Sun Chanthol, Minister of Public Works and Transport, spoke of the timeline for the Phnom Penh to Poipet rail link as he presided over the launch ceremony of the Poipet-Serey Sophorn link in Banteay Meanchey province.
“The Poipet-Serey Sophorn railway service is just the first step of our project to restore the rail line,” Mr Chanthol said.
He added that the next steps would be connections to Battambang, Pursat and then Phnom Penh.
“The second step is that we will restore the connection from Serey Sophorn to Battambang this month, to Pursat by May, to Bat Deng (Kampong Speu province) by July, and finally to Phnom Penh before the end of the year,” Mr Chanthol said.
Putting the western railway service into operation would contribute to public transport and cut traffic congestion and road accidents. In particular, it would connect the rail line to Thailand, Mr Chanthol said.
Sin Chanthy, president of the Cambodia Freight Forwarders Association (CAMFFA), acknowledged the development of the railway sector in the country, but he called for more convenient transport of goods and products by rail.
“It is good that we have passenger railway services coming online, showing the government has worked to make the service happens,” Mr Chanthy said.
“But for logistics as a whole, we want to see rail transport for goods and products in large amounts soon.”
“We want to see rail transport in Cambodia comparable to neighbouring countries because we are now in the Asean integrated community.”
Currently, Cambodia has two rail lines. The first is the southern link between Phnom Penh and Preah Sihanoukville province which crosses through Takeo and Kampot provinces.
