Green light close for key railway port

Cambodia’s restored railway is set to have full access to Sihanoukville’s port after key stakeholders agreed in principle to a link following months of talks.

The US$141 million restoration of 690 kilometres of the Kingdom’s tracks, jointly funded by the Asian Development Bank and AusAID, had always included plans to access the port's freight terminal – enabling trains to transport goods easily across its network.

But, according to ADB’s senior transport economist Peter Broch, the connection plan had stalled over its “technical implementation”.

“There was a memorandum which goes back to 2007 between the parties, but it had a different solution [for port access]. We have now found an alternative.... In fact there will be a new container railway terminal.” he said yesterday.

“The end result is that the railway will have equal access to the port, meaning it can move containers as easily, in principle, as trucks.”