Phnom Penh – Poipet railway line

Phnom Penh – Poipet
Sisophon station (2011)
Route length:	386 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Legend 0.00 Phnom Penh Depot 6.72 Pouch tong Phnom Penh airport 9.40 Phlov Bambaek Phnom Penh – Sihanoukville railway line 12.04 Samraong 17.83 Tuoal dear 26.01 Trapeang Tnaot 31.44 Bat Doeng 36.92 Trach Tong 42.56 Damnak Smach 46.42 Stueng Krang Ponley (72.6 m) 47.13 Tbaeng Khpos 55.67 Meanok 66.94 Krang Lvea 71.21 Peareang 75.07 Stueng Leang Sangkae 76.46 Romeas 93.83 Krang Skear to Kampong Chhnang Airport 110.77 Stueng Khnea (54.9 m) 111.15 Kdol 124.40 Bamnak 124.75 Stueng Bamnak 133.46 Kamraeng 148.12 Totueng Thngai (75 m) 163.99 Stueng Poussat 165.47 Pursat 166.21 (63 m) 173.16 Snam Preah 179.73 Trapeang Chong 187.54 Boeng Khnar 197.69 Svay Doun Kaev 198.20 Stueng Svai Daun Kaev (65.4 m) Cambodia / Thailand border 1941–1946 209.60 Kalaom Phluk 214.75 Prey Svay 223.10 Moung Ruessi 231.67 Kaoh Char 236.64 Kouk Trom 244.24 Phnum Thipakdei 251.95 Svay cheat 256.24 Reang Kesei 262.13 Ou Sralau 268.16 Ou Dambang 270.29 Stueng Sangkae (108.9 m) 273.05 Battambang 279.37 Syem 284.54 Ou Ta Ki 298.17 Chondeur Sva 306.22 Chrouy Sdau 310.33 Tuol Samraong 315.77 Phnum touch 321.93 Chamkar Chek 326.00 Banteay Neang 330.20 Mongkol Borey 330.93 Stueng Mongkol Borey (61.5 m) 336.17 Stueng Sisophon (64.3 m) 337.31 Sisophon also: Serei Saophoan 338.30 End of operation 1970–2018 342.38 Tuek Thla 342.79 Stueng Sisophon (91.6 m) 350.40 Sala Samraong 356.80 Souphi 370.11 Koub 384.30 Poipet 385.05 O Sru / Khlong Luek 386.00 Cambodia / Thailand border

The Phnom Penh – Poipet Railway ( Northern Railway ) is one of two main railway lines in Cambodia .

prehistory

Since the 1880s, consideration has been given to building a railway line from Saigon to Phnom Penh via Tây Ninh , which should be continued via Battambang to the Thai border. This route would have reached a length of 645 km.

history

construction

But it wasn't until 1923 that the first section of it was specifically planned, the section from Phnom Penh to Mongkol Borey . The Compagnie générale des colonies was entrusted with the construction and subsequent operation of the railway on November 23, 1928 . Construction began on July 4, 1929, when King Sisowath I and the Governor General of Indochina, Pierre Marie Antoine Pasquier , broke ground. The route was opened in 1932/33 in three successive parts. It was particularly important for Cambodia and therefore profitable: the rice from the growing areas could also be brought to Phnom Penh by rail during the dry season , which was previously the sole responsibility of inland shipping and was only possible to a limited extent in the dry season. Another motive for the construction of the railway was the fear that the Thai Eastern Railway, completed in 1926, could divert trade to Thailand instead of keeping it in French Indochina .

The topography in the area of ​​the route was flat, but a wide flood plain with rivers, which also changed the position of their river bed in the rainy season . This made the substructure complex and expensive, so that construction progress was slow. The Saigon – Phnom Penh section did not get beyond some earthworks in the Saigon area before the project was discontinued in 1929 due to lack of funds. The extension of the route from Mongkol Borey in the direction of Poipet on the Thai border, on the other hand, progressed slowly: by 1940, part of the earthworks had been carried out as far as Sisophon and beyond, when Japan occupied the country. Cambodia was divided: Thailand had to cede its western provinces to France with treaties in 1904 and 1907 , now - allied with Japan and the Axis powers during the Second World War - it got them back and ensured that the route was completed quickly. It was used by the Japanese military since December 8, 1941, and since April 10, 1942, Thai civil trains have been running here to Battambang, which is now in Thailand .

Interruptions

In 1946, however, France regained the territory it had lost in 1940, whereupon Thailand removed the track between the Thai border station Khlong Luek and the border. Cambodia formally gained its independence in 1949, but the railroad continued under French control. It was not handed over to Cambodia until 1952 and subsequently renamed Chemins de Fer Royeaux du Cambodge (CRC) (Royal Cambodian Railway). As a result, Cambodia and Thailand were able to agree to resume border rail traffic in 1954/55. Thailand relocated the track that had been dismantled in 1947 and since April 22, 1955, a train has operated twice a week between the Cambodian border station Poipet and the next largest Thai city, Aranyaprathet . Long-distance cross-border traffic did not take place.

After diplomatic relations were broken off due to completely different political attitudes (Thailand was now a close ally of the USA , Cambodia tried to maintain neutrality in the impending Vietnam War ), this minimal traffic was stopped for the first time on November 25, 1958, but resumed on February 27, 1959 . In 1961 there was a border dispute between the two countries over the site of the ancient temple of Prasat Preah Vihear .

→ Main article : Border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand

This border dispute led to the renewed break in diplomatic relations on October 23, 1961. Four days later, cross-border rail traffic was stopped again and Thailand dismantled the track leading to the border again.

After the coup of the US-friendly General Lon Nol against Prince Norodom Sihanouk , Cambodia again approached Thailand politically, so that on November 2, 1970, traffic was resumed with two to three trains per week. On July 2, 1974, however, it was interrupted again when the Khmer Rouge increasingly gained control of Cambodia .

Battambang Railway Station (2010)

Cessation of operations

After 1974 the Khmer Rouge dismantled 48 km of the track on the Cambodian side of the border, west of Sisophon.

Trains no longer ran on the route, the facilities were rotting or even being built over. On some sections of the route, locals offered trips for tourists on the “ bamboo express ”, small two-axle vehicles made of bamboo and powered by a gasoline engine.

New opening

New embankment with siding in Khlong Luek, Thailand, during the new construction

These missing 48 km of track between Sisophon and the Thai border have now been added and the line (re) opened on April 22, 2019 in the presence of the Prime Ministers of both countries, Hun Sen and Prayut Chan-o-cha . The Asian Development Bank co-financed the project with a loan of US $ 13 million.

literature

• Günter Krause: The train in the rice field. Railways in Vietnam and Cambodia - a travelogue . In: EisenbahnGeschichte 68 (February / March 2015), pp. 72–75.
• BR Whyte: The Railway Atlas of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia . White Lotus Co Ltd, Bangkok 2010, ISBN 978-974-480-157-9

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information from Whyte, p. 59ff; Maps 22, 23, (updated).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Whyte, p. 159.
3. ↑ Whyte, p. 163.
4. ↑ Whyte, p. 164.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Whyte, p. 37.
6. ↑ Whyte, pp. 37, 159.
7. ↑ Whyte, p. 160.
8. ↑ Whyte, p. 35.
9. ↑ Whyte, p. 160.
10. ↑ Whyte, pp. 35, 37.
11. ↑ Whyte, pp. 37, 160, 164.
12. ↑ Krause, p. 75
13. ^ AFP-Jiji: Cambodia and Thailand reconnected by rail after 45 years . In: The Japan Times, April 25, 2019; accessed on April 25, 2019.