New airport train goes into service

PHNOM PENH: A shuttle train service between Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh and its international airport went into service yesterday, helping ease travellers’ concerns about traffic congestion.

The shuttle trains travel the 10-kilometre distance in 22 to 25 minutes and operate around the clock, offering air travellers an alternative mode of transportation from Phnom Penh International Airport to the city centre other than tuk-tuk motorcycle taxis and standard taxis.

“It’s an historic day for Cambodia to have such a shuttle train from the capital to the airport for the first time,” said Sun Chanthol, minister of public works and transportation.

The trains, which can accommodate up to 100 passengers on each, leave every 30 minutes.

Although the service is temporarily using Royal Railway trains that usually serve a line from Phnom Penh to the country’s southwestern province of Sihanoukville, the minister said three new express trains purchased from Mexico are due to arrive in Cambodia and be put into service in June.

After decades of civil war, Cambodia’s ruined railway formally reopened in 2010, but it has yet to be widely used by passengers.

Besides the line connecting Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, services on a second line from Phnom Penh to Poipet on the Thai border are slated to begin later this year.