NAY PYI TAW October 7
Chairman of the State Administration Council Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, accompanied by members of his entourage, the chief minister of Yangon Region, the commander of Yangon Command and officials, inspected operations of the Diesel Circular Locomotive Factory (Insein) of Myanma Railways of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Insein Township in Yangon Region this morning.
First, the Senior General heard reports on upgrading tasks of Yangon circular railway lines including the brief history and salient points of the Diesel Circular Locomotive Factory (Insein), the history of the circular railway lines and its upgrading project, plans for operations of circular trains, railway facilities, measures taken for safety along railway lines and steps taken to operate electric trains along the circular lines including findings of the survey team and assessments about operations of electric trains presented by member of the SAC Union Minister for Transport and Communication General Mya Tun Oo, on tasks carried out to operate high-speed trains along major rail routes including the background history of Myanma Railways, salient points and needs of railway lines, mechanical requirements of locomotive, carriages and DEMU rolling stocks, the needs and assessments for signal and operation systems and measures taken to produce and replace concrete sleepers in railway divisions in Myanmar including production and distribution capacity of sleepers in concrete factories, replacement of sleepers along railway line sections, the needs to place 21 sleepers under one unit of rail lines presented by Deputy Minister U Aung Myaing.
After hearing the reports, the Senior General said it is necessary to conduct research for some railroad bends along respective railroad sections so that they are compatible with high speed-limits while making efforts to operate locomotives at 80 km per hour along major rail routes. Moreover, a standard speed limit that is compatible with railroad sections in the country must be set by studying railroad sections and railway bridges that are not compatible with the high-speed.
It has been more than one hundred years since Myanmar launched rail transportation in 1877 but the rail transportation system of the country still lags behind other countries. In rail transportation, railway lines are important and it is necessary to use standard track ballasts and sleepers and to do maintenance tasks.
Measures must be taken to set standard speeds for passenger trains at 80 km per hour and for freight trains at 60 km per hours and to manufacture and operate DEMU locomotive engines and carriages at home. Efforts must always be made to keep locomotives and carriages in good condition, to do maintenance tasks along railway lines and to operate electric trains (EMU). Operating electric trains in the country is a task that must be carried out without fail and further necessary research must be conducted for the success of the project.
If railway lines are in good condition and trains are operated in accordance with their arrival and departure times, the public will use trains more often. It is necessary to reduce the number of level crossings and build underpasses to operate trains at high speeds. Rail line areas must be in accordance with laws, rules and regulations. All movement and living conditions in railway stations and land owned by MR must also be in accordance with rules. Trees must be planted on both sides of railway lines systematically for pleasant sights and land conservation.
Rail transportation is one of the important transportation modes for a country and beneficial for the country. Therefore, efforts must be made for the renaissance of rail transportation.
Then, the Senior General and party inspected the new DEMU trains imported from Spain and gave necessary instructions on reports of officials.
