China - Myanmar Railway

Myanmar - China Railway Project, 1,193 miles (1,920 km) long, will link Kunming, capital city of China's Yunnan Province with Yangon, Myanmar's largest city. The top permitted speed will be 87 mph (140km/h). Up till now, the section in China with length of 423 miles (680 km) has been under construction since December, 2015 and it is expected to be completed by 2020, while the section in Myanmar is still under negotiation.

 

China-Myanmar Railway Map

Kunming to Yangon train will start from Kunming, run southwestward to Ruili at Chinese - Burma border, and then southward through Burma to Yangon. The Kunming - Yangon railway is scheduled to be constructed in two phases.

 Kunming - Ruili Railway: It consists of Kunming - Dali Railroad and Dali - Ruili Railroad. The former section with length of 217 miles (350 km) has been in service for a long time and the highest running speed is 75 mph (120 km/h). Duration is 5 to 8 hours. The latter section, about 206 miles (330 km), has been in construction since 1st December 2015. The planned top speed is 87 mph (140km/h). After it's built, the travel time between Dali and Ruili will be reduced to 4.5 hours by rail from current 9 hours by road. The planned stations along the way include Yangbi, Yongping, Naoshan, Longling, Mangshi, and Dehong. The Dali - Ruili Railroad will become an important trunk line of the China - Myanmar railway once it is completed. After that, the train from Kunming to Ruili with distance of nearly 700 kilometers is expected to "overnight."

 Ruili (Namhkam) - Yangon: Unfortunately the construction of this section inside Myanmar has not been decided and is still under negotiation.

In addition, there were plans to build a railway road between Kunming and Kyaukpyu, the deep-sea port in Myanmar, also via Ruili; and is also still under negotiation. Once completed, the China - Myanmar Railway will become an international corridor linking Southeast Asia and South Asia.
 
There is no doubt that both countries can benefit a lot from Sino - Myanmar Railway once it is put into operation. First, it will greatly boost the economy growth of southwestern China and Burma, especially for Burma. According to its official statistics, China is its largest trading partner and the main source of investment. Second, Myanmar - China train will make the travel between the two countries easier and promote the tourism development along the rail. Third, it will create more employment opportunities for the locals. Fourth, according to the plan, this rail line will be extended all the way to Singapore, thus it will be a convenient channel connecting China with the Southeastern Asian countries. Last but not least, this railroad will be a good advertisement for the advanced Chinese railway construction technology.

For the significance to China, it is reflected in the following aspects: accelerate the development of the southwest border areas of China; promote the friendship of Southeast Asian countries to China; obtain the nearest channel connecting South Asia region to the Indian Ocean; facilitate the establishment of “One Belt and One Road” in southeast China.
  
The fastest way to travel between the two countries is by plane. Direct flights are available between Yangon and Kunming, Beijing, and Guangzhou with duration of 2 hours, 5 hours and 3 hours respectively. The ticket price for economy class is around CNY 1,000, CNY 2,800, and CNY 1,600 respectively. Flights are also available from other cities in China, like Chengdu, Nanning, Fuzhou, Taipei and Hong Kong to Yangon. Besides, there are many flights running between Bangkok and Yangon, so it’s also cheap and convenient to have a transfer in Bangkok.
  
Aside from travel by air, one can also travel by coach. Please note that you can only enter Myanmar by land with a tour group and you should apply for a visa in advance. First, you can take a coach from Kunming West Coach Station to Ruili, which will take about 10 hours and the ticket fare is approximately CNY 300, after this you would need to find a travel agency to join a tour group. The travel agent can then apply for a visa which costs about CNY 700 and takes around five working days. This will make travel via land cost more time and money and therefore not an optimal choice.

Other International Trains between China and nearby Countries

K23/K24: Beijing - Ulaanbaatar	K27/K28: Beijing - Pyongyang	T8701/T8702: Nanning - Hanoi
4652/4653: Hohhot - Ulaanbaatar	Z5/Z6: Beijing—Hanoi	K7023/K7024: Harbin—Vladivostok
K9795/K9796: Urumqi - Almaty K9797/K9798: Urumqi - Astana	K19/K20 Beijing - Manzhouli - Moscow	K3/K4 Beijing - Ulaanbaatar - Moscow
Erlian - Ulaanbaatar

 International railways under construction/planning from China to: