Deteriorating relations between Thailand and Cambodia have brought the fate of the eastern line of the proposed Trans-Asian railway which would link Kunming with Singapore into doubt, according to a Phnom Penh Post report citing Thai and Cambodian sources.

A six-kilometer section of track that would link Aranyaphrathet in Thailand with Sisophon in Cambodia may not be built, which would be a major blow to the 5,300 kilometer regional rail network. It is this section that would act as a linchpin, connecting all existing railway networks in the vicinity.

The never-easy relationship between Thailand and Cambodia has become increasingly tense in recent weeks.

In November Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen angered the current Thai government by offering deposed Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra a home and an economic advisor post in the Cambodian government after refusing an extradition request by Bangkok, where he is supposed to serve two years in prison for corruption. The Thai government under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has interpreted this as criticism of its judicial system.

Since Cambodia's refusal to extradite Shinawatra, both countries have recalled their ambassadors from each other's capitals and a Thai citizen has been arrested in Cambodia for spying.

This is the lowest point in relations between the two countries since Shinawatra's days in power in 2003, when rumors that a Thai actress had claimed that Cambodian icon Angkor Wat belonged to Thailand resulted in mob violence aimed at the Thai embassy and Thai-owned businesses in Phnom Penh.

One day later the Cambodian embassy was damaged in an attack by a crowd in Bangkok. Diplomatic relations between the countries were suspended for three months afterward.

Adding to the drama is the fact that Shinawatra still holds much influence on the Thai side of the border, where he is still popular in rural regions. On top of that, consummate political survivor Hun Sen, who has been a mainstay of Cambodian politics since the days of the Khmer Rouge, is much more adept at political brinkmanship than Thailand's Vejjajiva.

There has been no word from Bangkok or Phnom Penh that either country has decided to scrap plans for the Aranyaprathet-Sisophon link. Were one country to withdraw from the plan, the rail link between Cambodia and Vietnam – and the rest of the rail network – would become unviable to governments and lenders, according to experts familiar with the project.

Dali-Lijiang rail line to open in December
The long-awaited Dali-Lijiang rail line (大丽铁路) is scheduled to commence operations on the last day of this year, according to a Dushi Shibao report.

Of the rail line's 164 kilometers, 22 kilometers are on bridges and 78 kilometers are tunneled – 62 percent of the line travels over bridges or through tunnels. At present, work crews are boring through Heluo Shan (禾洛山), the final mountain to be tunneled before the line enters Lijiang.

Work on the Dali-Lijiang line began in 2004. The line will begin at Dali East Station, traveling along the eastern shore of Erhai Lake with stops at Shangguan (上关), Xiyi (西邑) and Heqing (鹤庆) before arriving in Lijiang.

The rail line will eventually be extended to Shangri-la (Zhongdian) and then on to Lhasa.

Kunming to crack down on electric bicycles
Starting tomorrow, Kunming police will be cracking down on illegal operation of electric bicycles around the city and will be issuing fines ranging from five to 50 yuan, according to local media reports. Fineable offenses will include carrying multiple passengers, going the wrong way, riding in car lanes, riding on sidewalks and running red lights.

The combination of rapidly growing numbers of electric bicycles on Kunming's streets – there are an estimated 700,000 electric bikes in the city today - and the legal gray area the vehicles occupy have led to increasing safety problems.

In 2004, two people died in electric bike accidents in Kunming, compared to 20 last year and 13 in the first four months of this year. So far this year, electric bikes have been involved in roughly 25 percent of the traffic accident calls received by police.

The crackdown on electric bicycles will last 100 days, during which it is evidently hoped that vehicle owners will become accustomed to obeying traffic rules.

Man tests negative for swine flu, released from quarantine
The final passenger from a Mexican airline flight containing people infected with the H1N1 virus tested negative for the disease - more commonly known as swine flu – and was from quarantine in Kunming prior to the weekend.

Two days after news of the man's release, China's Health Ministry announced that the first suspected H1N1 case on the mainland - a thirty-year-old man returning from studying in the United States – was under quarantine in a hospital in Chengdu.

The Associated Press reports that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is expecting a US$15 billion railway connecting Singapore with Kunming to be completed by 2015, which is several years later than had been previously hoped.

The 5,000 kilometer (3,000 mile) rail line's development has been hampered by a lack of funds, technical issues and varying levels of enthusiasm among countries involved.

There is already an existing rail link from Singapore to Bangkok, passing through Malaysia; it is the two branches extending north from Bangkok that have proven more difficult. The western branch will travel through Myanmar and the line's eastern branch will cut through Cambodia and Vietnam, with an additional section of track connecting it to Laos.

ASEAN secretary-general Ong Keng Yong told the AP that the Asian Development Bank has recently given Cambodia US$40 million in soft loans, with an additional US$5.4 million in grants also being secured for the rail line, which is expected to dramatically increase the flow of people and cargo throughout the region.

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