| A 1995 feasibility study, limited to Bangladesh,
India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, had
identified a basic network of routes, recommended certain technical
and operational standards for this network and provided a limited
appraisal of the status of the existing routes in relation with
these standards.
In the light of the development of trade and economic
exchanges between the countries belonging to subregional groupings
in South and South-east Asia (Economic Cooperation Organisation,
Bangladesh-India-Myanmar-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation),
it was decided that the time had come to expand the scope of the
study to include China, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Turkey and
to
(i) re-evaluate, and if necessary re-define, the network previously
identified,
(ii) assess the improvements required in institutional and commercial
procedures to attract international traffic to the corridor,
(iii) define an Action Plan for the development of the corridor
to facilitate inter- and intra-regional trade and economic growth.
The findings and recommendations of the study were
considered by the representatives of all the countries concerned
during a Policy-level Expert Group Meeting
held in Dhaka (Bangladesh) in May 1999 during which the countries
agreed on the establishment of Working Groups to study the gradual
operationalisation of the corridors.
Following the Meeting, the study was published
as Trans-Asian
Railway in the Southern Corridor of Asia-Europe Routes (ST/ESCAP/1980,
New York, 1999). |
