GMS Rail Expansion Summit 2017

The countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS)—Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China(PRC), the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam—have expressed their desire, through the GMS Economic Cooperation Program, for better transport connectivity to improve the environment for trade.

The railways in the GMS have developed independently over the course of a century and are today, with the exception of a connection between the PRC and Vietnam, a collection of national railway networks that do not interconnect. Each national railway has developed into a unique system with its own standards and procedures. In view of escalating sub-regional trade, growing concerns over climate change and, more recently, sharply fluctuating fuel costs, the GMS countries have accelerated their plans for upgrading their national railway networks and for interconnecting these by constructing new railway connections.