One should not get too excited about this. The idea of a railway network spanning Asia, linking cities as diverse as Kuala Lumpur and Kabul, Yangon and Yerevan has been around since there were wolves in Wales.

In 1960 the United Nations gave it some form of International recognition by approving of a Trans-Asian Railway Network. (To say the United Nations conceived it is arrant nonsense. Read any history of the area and you can see it was a major concern of the Victorian era to put, as it were, trade caravans on rails to link Asia with Europe.)

Now representatives from about 40 countries participating in a two-day Ministerial Conference on Transport, sponsored by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific have agreed it is a good idea. And some signed.

A total of 18 nations, including Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Russia, South Korea and Turkey signed the agreement.

Thus the Trans-Asian Railway Network, which would be 50,000 miles of track through more than two dozen Asian countries, is at least a theoretical possibility.
Theoretical. Not easily practical.

First there is the fact that the gauge — the distance between the rails — differs from country to country. Australia had this problem between its states and that took damn close to a century to sort out.

Kim Hak-su, a U.N. under secretary-general and executive secretary of UNESCAP said at the signing ceremony, ‘It now rests with today’s transport planners to advance action on this vision.’ That is the sort of thing you say during signing ceremonies.

The pact sets out a framework for countries to coordinate the development of important routes. A working group will serve as a forum for policy makers and rail managers to work out details.

A guess suggests about $2.5 billion will be needed in that region just to fill in gaps between train networks of various countries.

Steven Yang, an executive with Rotem Co., a South Korean railway systems supplier, with projects in 34 countries including Bangladesh, Iran, Nigeria, Brazil and the United States, said,

On this one, to get to the reality it’s going to take a lot of work. The first obstacle they are going to have is rail gauge.

Myanmar, one of the countries that supports the agreement but which chose not to sign, cited ‘financial constraints’ in upgrading its existing rail system. That is sometimes called ‘will someone else like to pay?’

Then there is the question of North and South Korea which, at the moment, are not in a co-operative mood. North Korea didn’t send a delegation to the conference which bodes ill.

Still now at least it could theoretically happen. A step forward.