Saturday, March 10, 2007
INDIA today agreed to join 18 other countries to build the ambitious Trans Asian Railway (TAR) network that is expected to create a grand train link connecting different continents.
The Indian cabinet announced that it would help in the construction of the 11,460km rail link that would ease the movement of rail traffic and enhance trade and tourism among Asian countries.
The grandiose idea was mooted in 1969, but took a back seat due to the changing political and economic climate over the last three decades.
The initial TAR project envisaged by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (Unescap) was to construct a massive integrated transcontinental rail network dubbed as Iron Silk Road — from Singapore to Istanbul in Turkey spanning more than 14,000km in total.
According to the 1960s proposal, the TAR network would eventually connect Europe and Africa.
The project had been divided into three corridors and India will be part of the southern corridor — that connects Thailand and the southern Chinese province of Yunan with Turkey through Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran and Sir Lanka.The inter-governmental agreement on Trans-Asian Railway Network was adopted at the 62nd session of the Unescap held in Jakarta in April last year.
The Indian cabinet approved the signing and ratifying the Inter-governmental Agreement on TAR that will formalise the coordinated development of the rail network connecting various Asian capitals and industrial cities.
India is expected to construct about 350km of the stretch between Jiribam in India and Moreh, Myanmar.
Until last November, 18 countries signed the agreement — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Bernama
The Indian cabinet announced that it would help in the construction of the 11,460km rail link that would ease the movement of rail traffic and enhance trade and tourism among Asian countries.
The grandiose idea was mooted in 1969, but took a back seat due to the changing political and economic climate over the last three decades.
The initial TAR project envisaged by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (Unescap) was to construct a massive integrated transcontinental rail network dubbed as Iron Silk Road — from Singapore to Istanbul in Turkey spanning more than 14,000km in total.
According to the 1960s proposal, the TAR network would eventually connect Europe and Africa.
The project had been divided into three corridors and India will be part of the southern corridor — that connects Thailand and the southern Chinese province of Yunan with Turkey through Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran and Sir Lanka.The inter-governmental agreement on Trans-Asian Railway Network was adopted at the 62nd session of the Unescap held in Jakarta in April last year.
The Indian cabinet approved the signing and ratifying the Inter-governmental Agreement on TAR that will formalise the coordinated development of the rail network connecting various Asian capitals and industrial cities.
India is expected to construct about 350km of the stretch between Jiribam in India and Moreh, Myanmar.
Until last November, 18 countries signed the agreement — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Bernama