The solemnity of carrying into effect of the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asia Railway Network was held by the U.N.O. Economics and Social Committee of Asia and Pacific Ocean Countries (ESCAPO) in Bangkok on June 11, vladivostoktimes.com informs. This "rails silk road" is to link 28 countries and regions of APR; "Chengmin Chibao" informs. The length of the Trans-Asia Railway Network, so called "rails silk road," comes to 114 thousand kilometers and it is to link 28 countries and regions. On March 13, 2009 China submitted the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asia Railway Network for approval to U.N.O.; China is the world’s eighth country that ratified this Agreement. According to the Agreement, this Intergovernmental document is to come into effect 90 days after the 8th country approves it. So, China joined seven countries that had ratified the Agreement: Cambodia, India, Mongolia, the South Korea, Russia, Tajikistan and Thailand. Total 22 countries signed the Agreement. The Trans-Asia Railway (TAR) is to encourage the joining of the road network on basis of the existing railways of the above mentioned countries. Barry CABLE, the Director of the ESCAPO Department of Transport and Tourism, said that it is necessary to invest 25 billion US Dollars to build 8 300 kilometers of new rails. Iran, Turkey, India, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries are increasing capital investments and it provides economic guarantee for bringing TAR into service. When making speech at the solemnity in Bangkok the Representative of the People’s Republic of China noted that the China Railway Network is the main component part of TAR and has been rapidly developing lately: for the last 6 years over 30 000 kilometers of rails have been built, 20 000 kilometers more are to be built and till 2012 the total track length will come to 110 thousand kilometers. The international cooperation is of great importance in China; the China Railway performs passenger and freight traffic jointly with various countries, such as Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, DPRK and Vietnam, there is also container traffic to Germany, the Czech Republic and other countries. The TAR section Kunmin-Singapore known as "SEA corridor" starts in Kunmin (China) and crossing Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and other countries finishes in Singapore, its total length is 14 000 kilometers. This project is a part of the National Medium- and Long-Term Plan of the China Railway Development and the work on its realization has started.
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