Train latest in public transport
AROUND 8am on Tuesday morning, a bell rang a few times at the Phnom Penh train station signalling to passengers that the first publicly available airport train in the capital was about to depart.
About 50 passengers lined up and boarded the carriage – actually the second to leave that morning. The first was filled with government and Royal Railway officials, including Transport Minister Sun Chanthol, who oversaw the railroad’s opening earlier in the morning.
The airport shuttle is set to run every 20 to 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, and will be free until the end of July, Chanthol said in his opening speech.
It is the latest public transportation development in Cambodia, closely following the launches of a ferry service in the capital on Friday and a train service running from the border town of Poipet to Serei Saphoan in Banteay Meanchey province on Wednesday, as well as a steady expansion of Phnom Penh’s public bus system.
Chanthol said during the opening ceremony that the rail line was entirely Cambodian-made, and that every Cambodian should be proud of it.
“This is one hundred percent constructed by our Cambodian people,” he said. “This must be our national pride.”
Royal Railway, the operating company, is part of the Royal Group conglomerate, owned by the powerful and politically connected tycoon Kith Meng. His company