According to Myanma Railways, the entire Bago-Mawlamyine section of the Yangon-Mawlamyine railway is being upgraded to enable express trains to run at speeds of up to 75 kilometres per hour.

Previously, trains on the 176-mile Yangon-Mawlamyine route operated at a maximum speed of 48 kilometres per hour. Following earlier upgrades to the Bago-Mawlamyine section, the maximum speed has been increased to 64 kilometres per hour, reducing travel time. At present, further improvements are being carried out across the whole Bago-Mawlamyine section. Once these works are completed, trains will be able to operate at speeds of up to 75 kilometres per hour.

Upgrading works on the 130-mile Bago-Mawlamyine railway section began with filling gravels in the 2014-2015 financial year and were completed in the 2023-2024 financial year. The railway section was facilitated with new rail tracts and concrete sleepers.

In the improvement process of the railway line, there are up to 16 locations along the Bago-Mawlamyine railway line where curves exceed 5 degrees. Due to speed restrictions, additional improvements are being made to reduce travel time, including adding larger volume of gravels. Gravels were packed along the way with the use of Automatic Levelling Lining & Tamping Machine (ALL-TM), in addition to upgrading the rail bridges.

In addition, efforts to further increase operational speeds on this section were completed with filling gravels during the 2025-2026 financial year.

Upon completion of the full upgrade of the Bago-Mawlamyine section, trains will be able to run at a maximum speed of 75 kilometres per hour, further reducing travel time.

ASH/KNN

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