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The finalisation of routes on the Trans-Asian Rail network is expected to take place by November this year.
"An expert level meeting to be held in Bangalore in November 2004, will discuss and prepare a draft agreement," said John Moon, chief, Transport Infrastructure, UNESCAP.
An intergovernmental meeting in November 2005 will review and finalise the draft agreement and a ministerial conference on Infrastructure to be held in 2006 will adopt the agreement. He was speaking at the first meeting of the BIMST-EC Conference of CEO's of railways on the development of Trans-Asian Rail links.
"The share of rail transport in inter-country trade in the region is very limited. Once there is an inter-governmental agreement in place and projected traffic growth is available, we can tap international financial institutions for funding," said RK Singh, chairman, Railway Board, who led the Indian delegation.
Common standards are required for standardisation of the rail corridor and would facilitate joining the missing links. The northern corridor of the rail link, which runs through Russia, Kazakhastan, Mongolia, China and Korea has a high level of operational readiness and has only one missing link which is nearly complete.
The southern corridor, running through Thailand, China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey, however, has a number of missing links and funding is proving to be a difficult issue, given the low traffic projections.
The Myanmar government is working on extension of the railway line from Kalay in Myanmar to Tamu. However, the mix of broad and meter gauge in Bangladesh poses a problem for integration of railway lines in the region.
Formalisation of TAR is an important component of an Integrated Intermodal transport network that would meet transport requirements and help regional economic integration.
It would play a catalytic role for construction and upgrading of railway lines in Asia, including border stations and container terminals and would assist member countries in making better use of their infrastructure. It would also enhance the attractiveness of railway infrastructure projects to international financing institutions.
On reducing transit time at borders, Moon said, that for the Asian Highway project, countries had signed seven international conventions relating to border crossing which had eased matters considerably. A similar system could be used to reduce transit time at borders in case of the Southern Corridor of TAR.
"We are encouraging countries to draw time-cost diagrams for these corridors as it provides an opportunity to focus on areas where the problems are arising," he added.