Press releases

2020/12/09

MITSUBISHI CORPORATION SELECTS CAF TO SUPPLY TRAINS FOR THE MYANMA RAILWAYS PROJECT

Mitsubishi Corporation has subcontracted CAF for design and supply 246 modern Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMU) in the framework of the contract the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar awarded to Mitsubishi Corporation. The contract comprises of the supply of eleven 6-car units for the Yangon circular railway upgrading project, and the supply of a further thirty 6-car units for the Yangon-Mandalay II railway upgrading project.

The volume of the operation with CAF exceeds €500 million and is being funded through an international loan, in yen, pursuant to an agreement between the governments of Japan and Myanmar. This agreement not only covers the supply of the trains, but also the comprehensive upgrading of the infrastructure on both lines, including signalling system modernisation, work on tracks and station improvements.

Eleven of the new units will be supplied for the first line, called the circular line, which runs 46 km through the centre of Yangon, Myanmar's largest commercial city. As a result of this project, the plan is to reduce by 60 minutes from the current 170 minutes travel time required to travel along this line.

The other 30 units will also run on the 620 km long Yangon-Mandalay line, which connects Yangon city to the country's capital, Naypyidaw, and the second largest commercial city, Mandalay. The journey time will also be significantly reduced, going from approximately 15 hours to around 8 hours once the project is completed.

Both projects form part of the Myanmar government's plans to upgrade the country's infrastructure network to improve the quality of life, contributing to the modernisation of domestic transport and strengthening the country's socio-economic development, whilst also dedicating efforts to more sustainable means of transport equipped with the cutting-edge technology to optimise passenger safety and comfort.

Over the past few years, the CAF Group has solidified a close strategic relationship with Mitsubishi Corporation, involving a number of highly successful projects, some of which are already in operation. Specifically, worth mentioning are the supply of rolling stock for Manila LRT Line 1 in the Philippines, the Istanbul Metro and building a transport system in Canberra, Australia.

The CAF Group operates in all five continents, and this new contract reinforces its standing in the Asian continent, where it has executed projects which have involved the supply of metro units for Hong Kong (China), trams for Kaohsiung in Taiwan, and metro units for New Delhi, India, all being countries which are on the cutting edge when it comes to transport systems.