The kingdom’s railway reopening – how is it progressing?

• 19 November 2019
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Cambodia Railway consists of two lines with a total length of 650 kilometres. The Northern Railway has a length of 386 kilometres from Phnom Penh to Poi​ Pet (Cambodia-Thailand border) and was constructed and functional between 1929 to 1942. The Southern Railroad was built between 1960 and 1969 and is a total length of 264 kilometres.

The two train lines were abandoned for more than four decades after 1970 when Cambodia fell into a civil war. A scheduled service only resumed at the end of 2010 for rail freight only.

Later, the trains served passengers when Cambodia Railway used a new locomotive from Mexico, and imported 10 Malaysian locomotives to proceed to the Northern Line.

According to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, from September 2018 to August 2019, the total number of passengers travelling by rail was approximately 21,000. 16,000 of them travelled the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville route through Kampot. Meanwhile, total cargo volume was more than 750,000 tons in the same period.

Currently, the train service runs only at weekends from Friday to Sunday on the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville route to the southern coast of Cambodia. The schedule caters largely to tourist demands, and it takes an eight-hour run and a US$7 ticket.

Travellers often put their motorcycles, bicycles or cars on the train for between US$5 and US$14 to use on their holiday to the seaside provinces, especially Kampot, which is well-known for its eco-tourism. Local investors such as Dong Prek National Park, Phnom Dong Beach, Trapeang Sangkae Community, Anlung Pring, Kdat Sanaka Resort, or Dong Te Resort have put the area on the map, while the KC Adventure Resort also chose Chhouk district in Kampot with over 100 hectares of land, to invest about US$20 million into eco-tourism.

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