A rolling stock consortium comprised of Niigata Transys (NTS), IHI Corporation and Marubeni has been awarded a ¥7 billion (∼€53 million) contract from Myanmar Railways for 24 diesel-electric multiple units (DEMU).
The investment in new carriages is part of the Yangon-Mandalay improvement project, a programme financed by the Japanese government which aims to modernise the aged railway system between the two cities.
NTS said that the 267km distance between Yangon and Taungoo (part way to Mandalay) currently takes around seven hours to travel.
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Once the project is complete and the new units are introduced, the travel time will be reduced to three hours and 20 minutes on this section.
Marubeni will lead the consortium on commercial issues while NTS will be responsible for design, manufacturing, testing and training of the DEMUs.
The contract between Myanmar Railways and Niigata Transys, IHI Corporation and Marubeni was signed on February 9.
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