A subsidiary of China Railway Group has applied for a feasibility study on Myanmar's 650 km medium-speed railway. China Railway Second Engineering Group hopes to study a railway linking Mandalay, the second largest city in central Myanmar, with a planned deep sea port and Kyaukpao Industrial Zone.

This route will account for half of the 1,215-km-long plan from the new port to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, China, passing Mandalay and the border city of Muse. The railway was priced at approximately US$20 billion in 2011. The Myanmar government and China Railway Group signed a memorandum of understanding on railways in October 2018.

Wu Nirui, the general manager of the Myanmar Railway Company, announced that China hopes to start pre-construction. Wu Nirui said: "The memorandum includes applying for a feasibility study to extend the railway from Mandalay to Kyaukpyu. The feasibility study will take two to three years."

The railway project will allow trains to run at speeds of up to 160km/h at a cost of approximately US$9 billion. Editor/Huang Lijun