A statistical overview of the railways in Burma

The railways in Burma date back to 1877. Myanma Railways has undergone significant changes in recent years, coinciding with the election of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) government in 2015. Lines such as the Yangon–Mandalay line are being upgraded; new locomotives have been acquired from China and India; passenger coach and locomotive factories have been built in northern Burma; the China–Burma Railway may finally go ahead (initially from Muse to Mandalay); and Rail Bus Engines (RBEs) from Japan have replaced many of the traditional trains on the Circular Railway in Yangon. Myanma Railways' management is aware of the problems it faces in terms of cost and the need to be more competitive (Pyae Thet Phyo 2018).

This article will provide a statistical overview of the railways in Burma, concentrating especially on the period since the late 1940s, which leads to a discussion of the state of the railways today. Myanma Railways is changing significantly. Following the election of the NLD government in 2015, greater investment is being made in the railways, with support from Japan. There appears to be little merit in the construction of the standard-gauge China–Burma Railway, which would benefit Chinese economic interests, not the people of Burma. [End Page 299] If China also builds a standard-gauge line from Mandalay to Yangon, as it seems intent to do, this will merely duplicate the meter-gauge line already in place. Myanma Railways, with strong support from Japan, is actively engaged in upgrading this line.

This article has two key conclusions: (1) the railways in Burma are in poor shape and need improving significantly, for both passenger and freight services. The statistics presented in this article show the deterioration in most aspects of Myanma Railways over recent decades and highlight where improvement is needed; and (2) the government faces the dilemma of whether to allow China to build a standard-gauge line from China to Mandalay and then on to Kyaukphyu and probably also to Yangon, at the expense of improving Myanma Railways' current meter-gauge network. There is evidence of work to do both, but as this article will argue, the plans by China are a waste of resources and are of little benefit to the people of Burma.