Myanmar: Myanmar Transportation Profile

The government of Myanmar (known as Burma before gaining independence from the British Empire) has two ministries controlling transportation:

• Ministry of Rail Transport
• Ministry of Transport

Burma (known as Myanmar since its independence in 1989) has a 3,991 km (2,480 mi) railway network that is run by Myanmar Railways, a national owned railway company under the Ministry of Railways.

In May 1877, the initial train left Rangoon for Prome, a town on the Irrawaddy 163 miles away and, particularly next the annexation of Upper Burma in 1886, lines toward the Chinese border were quickly constructed, half so that the British could get easy access to the resource rich hinterland, and half in the hopes of building a railway to the Yunnan province of China from the port city of Rangoon (most of South-East Asia was under French control and Rangoon, for a brief period of time, was viewed as a staging point for trade with China). The railway to China at no time materialized and, by the early 1900s, most of what exists in Burma today had by presently been constructed.

Rail transport was initial introduced in Burma in May 1877, at the same time as Lower Burma was a colony of the United Kingdom and a part of British India, with the opening of the Rangoon to Prome line by The Irrawaddy Valley National Railway. This line, 163 miles long, tracing the course of the Irrawaddy river, was built over three years with labor imported from India, particularly from the areas affected by the Bihar famine of 1873–74. In 1884, a new company, The Sittang Valley National Railway, opened a 166 mile line along the Sittang River from Rangoon to the town of Toungoo via Pegu. While the Irrawaddy line was considered to be of commercial importance because it could be used to move rice from the valley to the major port at Rangoon, the Sittang line was of considerable strategic importance because of the proximity of Toungoo to the border with Upper Burma, again a part of the Ava kingdom.This became evident at the start of the Third Anglo-Burmese War a year next the opening of the railway and during the unrest that followed the war.The construction cost for the two lines was £1,926,666 and the railway was profitable by 1888 returning additional than 5% on the capital spending.

With the annexation of Upper Burma, the railway was extended by 220 miles from Toungoo to Mandalay, the fallen capital of the Ava kingdom with the extended railroad opening in 1889. Following the opening of this section, the Mu Valley National Railway was formed and construction began on a railway line from Sagaing to Myitkyina and connected Mandalay to Shwebo in 1891, to Wuntho in 1893,to Katha in 1895, and to Myitkyina in 1898. With the opening of this railway, a continuous 724 mile railway line ran from Rangoon to Myitkyina through the Kachin Hills except for a ferry crossing of the Irrawaddy at Sagaing.

The Inwa Bridge at Sagaing, the only one across the Irrawaddy River in Burma, was opened in 1934,[4] with two decks, one for road traffic and one for rail traffic.Destroyed by the British during their retreat from Burma in the Second World War it was rebuilt in 1954 next Burmese independence.

In 1896, before the completion of the line to Myitkyina, the three companies were combined into the Burma Railway Company as a national owned public undertaking.[6] Between 1898 and 1905 an extra 278 miles of railway was constructed. A 110 branch line from the Rangoon-Pyay railroad connected Bassein in the Irrawaddy delta to Rangoon and the Mandalay - Hsipaw-Lashio railway traversed 117 miles through the Shan Hills almost all the way to the border with China.

The latter railroad included the Gokteik viaduct, a 2260 feet long, 320 feet high viaduct across the Gokteik gorge near Nawnghkio. At the same time as built, it was the longest such viaduct in the world. The track rises a continuous 1:40 gradient throughout its length and the viaduct, designed by Alexander Rendel & Sons and constructed by the Pennsylvania Steel Company was considered an engineering marvel at that time.The Mandalay-Lashio railway was to extend to Kunlong on the border, and again on to the Yunnan province of China (see Yunnan–Burma Railway) but the plan was abandoned because of the difficult terrain.

In 1907, a line was opened connecting Pegu and Moulmein, the original capital of British Burma (before the Second Anglo-Burmese War). The line went up to Martaban on the Gulf of Martaban at the terminus of the Salween River and passengers had to take a ferry to cross over to Moulmein.[4] (It was not until the Thanlwin Bridge opened in 2006 that it was possible to go from Rangoon to Moulmein by rail.) Sometime next the Initial World War, a line was constructed between Moulmein and Ye at the northern end of the Mergui Archipelago. Meanwhile, the last major rail line constructed in Burma was between 1914 and 1918 at the same time as a line was built from Thazi on the Rangoon-Mandalay line to Kalaw, a hill station in the hills of the Southern Shan State

In 1928, the Burma Railway Company was dissolved and the railways were brought due under the government and renamed Burma Railways and, around this time, the railways began to lose money because of competition from road transport. With the return on capital declining, Burma Railways became the single biggest deficit item at the same time as the financial separation of India and Burma took place in 1937. The coal, the rolling stock, engines, were all imported either from India or from Britain.

In 1942, the country had 3313 route-km of meter-gauge track, but during World War II the Japanese removed about 480 km. By the end of the conflict only 1085 route-km was operational, in four isolated sections. Next Myanmar gained independence from the UK in 1948, the rail network was rebuilt. By 1961 the network extended 3020 km, and again remained constant until the opening of a 36 km line from Kyaukpadaung to Kyini in October 1970. This marked the start of a construction and track-doubling boom, and by 2000 MR operated 5068 track-km divided into 11 operating divisions. Most of the routes are single track although large parts of Yangon-Pyay and Yangon-Mandalay routes are double-track

Roadways

total: 27,000 km (16,777 mi)
paved: 3,200 km (1,988 mi)
unpaved: 23,800 km (14,789 mi) (2006)

The main highways are:

1 - Runs from Yangon to Mandalay, passing through Bago, Taungoo, Pyinmana and Meiktila.
2 - Runs from Yangon to Mandalay, passing through Pyay, Magwe, Kyaukpadaung and Myingyan.
3 - Runs from Mandalay to Muse, on the border with China, passing through Lashio.
4 - Runs from Meiktila to Tachileik, on the border with Thailand, passing through Taunggyi and Kengtung.
5 - Runs from Taungoo to Hopong, passing through Loikaw.
6 - Runs from Yangon to Pathein.
7 - Runs from Mandalay to Moreh, on the border with India, passing through Shwebo and Kale.
8 - Runs from Hpagyargyi to Myeik, passing through Moulmein, Ye and Dawei.
31 - Runs from Mandalay to Myitkyina, passing through Mogok and Bhamo.

There is one expressway in the country, featuring double carriageway and four lanes on its entire length:

Yangon-Mandalay Expressway - Runs from Yangon to Mandalay, by-passing Bago, Taungoo, Naypyidaw and Meiktila. Length: 587 km.
 

Waterways

12,800 km (7,954 mi); 3,200 km (1,988 mi) navigable by large commercial vessels. (2008)

Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. operates its business in Ayeyarwady River by the name Road to Mandalay River Cruise. Irrawaddy Flotilla Company was also in service along the Ayeyarwady River in the 20th century, until 2003.

Ports and harbours

Sea

Yangon

Sittwe (Akyab)
Dawei - railhead - new deepwater port under construction 2005

River

Myitkyina
Bhamo
Mandalay
Chauk
Pathein
 

Merchant marine

total: 24 ships (with a volume of 1,000 gross register tons (GRT) or over) totaling 472,284 GRT/716,533 tonnes deadweight (DWT)
Ships by type: bulk carrier 1, cargo ship 17, passenger ship 2, passenger/cargo 3, specialized tanker 1 (2008)
note: a flag of convenience registry; includes ships of 3 countries: Cyprus 1, Germany 1, Japan 1

Airports

In July 2010, the country had 69 airports. Only 11 of them had runways over 10,000 feet (3248 meters). Of the 11, only Yangon International and Mandalay International had adequate facilities to handle larger jets.

total: 69
over 3,047 m: 11
1524 to 3,047 m: 27
Under 1524 m: 31

Heliports

4 (2007)