REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, YOGYAKARTA -- Indonesia's state-owned rail company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) will send its old and unused rail carriages to Myanmar to help improve the railway operations of that country. "Indonesia has around 600 carriages that are more than 20 years old and we will send them to improve the railway operations in Myanmar," Budi Noviantoro, PT KAI's director of logisticz and development, said on the sidelines of the 38th ASEAN Railway CEOs Conference here on Tuesday.

Budi said PT KAI will renovate the unused carriages first before sending them over to Myanmar to make them worth using. "We cannot as yet confirm when the shipment will be done, but the two parties have finalized the plan. PT KAI has already visited Myanmar to review the conditions there," he said.

Budi said the railway service in Myanmar has not been fully developed and at present, the average speed of trains in Myanmar is still around 30 kilometers per hour. He expressed hope that with the shipment of carriages from Indonesia, the speed could be increased by 100 percent to 60 kilometers per hour.

He said the decision to ship the carriages comes after a meeting between railway operators in Southeast Asia (ARCEO), which is regularly held every year. The conference will discuss other issues, including the challenges, opportunities and potential cooperation between railway operators of ASEAN countries.

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