The tender for the redevelopment of Pazundaung railway station in Yangon will close this coming July, according to general manager U Htun Aung Thin from Myanma Railways, of the Ministry of Rail Transportation.
A man walks through Pazundaung station yesterday. Photo: Aung Khant / The Myanmar TimesA man walks through Pazundaung station yesterday. Photo: Aung Khant / The Myanmar Times
The station will be the first of many to be upgraded as part of a large-scale plan to modernise Yangons circular railway, which could cost up to US$2 billion for the track alone.
The Pazundaung railway station is located on a 2-acre site on upper Pazundaung Road, in the eastern district of Yangon region.
The site is divided into two yards. In yard 1 is a commodities warehouse, which was built before the Second World War. This will not be demolished, but will be used as an office, or turned into a museum.
Railway staff currently occupy yard 2. There are also 34 shops on the site, but their leases expired in May 2014, and will not be renewed.
In their place, the tender winner will be licenced to build car parks, offices and other multi-storey buildings.
The open tender to redevelop the site was called on April 27 and will close on July 27. We called a direct tender for this development project, and 10 companies have bought the form so far. We will favour local companies and we will start the project within this year, said U Htun Aung Thin.
The developer must build a railway station and office tower including car parking space in yard 1, as well as multi-storey buildings to resettle the railway staff.
For this, we will use a 50-year Build, Operate and Transfer [BOT] contract, with two options to extend it by 10 years to a total of 70 years. It will be open to local citizens and foreign companies, under the foreign investment law, said U Htun Thin.
The first phase of the Yangon circular railway line upgrade will cover half of the track, from Dayin Gone station in northwest Yangon, through southern Yangon, to Pazundaung station in the southeast.
The project is overseen by the Ministry of Rail Transportation and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which has already agreed to partly fund the project.
Yangons circular railway is 46 kilometres long and connects 39 stations. The train takes three hours to finish a complete circuit.
TOKYO -- Hitachi will supply a signal system to a Myanmar railway project in an order that ultimately could total 10 billion yen ($83 million).
Working with trading house Mitsubishi Corp., the Japanese infrastructure builder will install a signal system for part of a key railway connecting Yangon and Myanmar's second-largest city, Mandalay.
The order covers 140km of the 600km route. In addition to a centralized train monitoring system, the order includes digital switch controls, with delivery planned by June 2017. This portion of the project is worth roughly 2.4 billion yen, and will be funded by a grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Japan is expected to provide funding for the rest of the route, stretching nearly 500km, and Hitachi is likely to win that order as well, with the total project expected to exceed 10 billion yen.
Myanmar has a rail network spanning 6,000km. With aging equipment causing repeated derailments and delays, the Myanmar government is eager to update the infrastructure. Hitachi also hopes to win an order for a loop railway within Yangon.
Hitachi developed the signal system especially for emerging markets. It offers the same reliability as those for developed countries but has limited functions for automatic schedule adjustments and other features. Hitachi cut the system price to less than half of those marketed to developed countries by handling software adjustments at its Indian base.
Though specialist Nippon Signal and other companies also bid for the project, Hitachi's price advantage seems to have won out.
The company hopes to expand sales to other parts of Southeast Asia and Latin America. The global market for signal systems is seen expanding 3% annually, driven by Asia and other emerging markets. It is currently estimated at 12 billion euros ($13.7 billion) and is expected to reach 15 billion euros in 2019.
Hitachi's rolling stock business faces tough price competition from the merger of two Chinese state-owned giants. But signal systems continue to offer high margins.
For further expansion, Hitachi this year will acquire Ansaldo STS of Italy, the world's No. 2 supplier of signal systems and a unit of defense and aviation giant Finmeccanica.
An electric train will start operating in Yangon in October and December, according to the Ministry of Rail Transportation.
The government and the Japan-based West Corporation sealed a deal on July 27 over the electric train that will run from Pansodan to Htawlikwae in Ahlon Township along the Yangon waterfront in the first phase in October, and from Pansodan to Lansadawn in the second phase in December. The Japanese partner will provide the specialist equipment.
The fares are still unspecified.
Construction of the dual gauge railway and electric poles is due start soon. The Yangon Electricity Corporation will provide the 5 megawatts needed to run the train.
The electric power poles will be erected 50 metres apart.
The speed will be set between 19 and 25 miles per hour. Two coaches with three compartments and a single compartment coach are being prepared for the service.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
