Study on Development of the Trans-Asian Railway: Trans-Asian Railway in the Southern Corridor of Asia-Europe Routes

The southern corridor of the Trans-Asian Railway is one of four corridor studies undertaken by UNESCAP as part of the Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project. The principal function of the corridor is to allow through railway transport of containers between South Asia and Europe, Southern China and Europe, and Thailand and Europe. Another function is to connect by rail the hinterland regions of the countries in the corridor with their nearest ports. The study identifies and evaluates the development and operation of the routes in the corridor best able to serve these two functions. These routes would run through Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Turkey. The study further reviews the missing links in the corridor, appraises traffic demand, assesses technical, operational and commercial requirements, and outlines development plans.