The Yangon-Mandalay Railway, connecting Myanmar’s largest commercial city, Yangon, the capital Naypyidaw, and the country’s second-largest commercial city, Mandalay, represents one of the most important railway lines in Myanmar. Over many years, aging infrastructure and insufficient maintenance resulted in reduced train speeds, frequent service delays, and recurring derailments, leading to concerns regarding safety and the overall quality of transport services.

　This project was initiated to rehabilitate and upgrade aging railway assets, including bridges, box culverts, tracks, signaling systems, and related facilities. The works also included replacing the existing British Standard rails (BS75R, 37.5 kg/m) with Japanese Standard JIS 50N rails and installing long rails. These improvements contribute to reducing noise and vibration, enhancing ride comfort, lowering maintenance requirement, and significantly improving the safety, speed, and reliability of railway services.

　The Joint Venture was responsible for Construction Package CP102 (Bago -Nyaung Le Bin Section), covering approximately 80 km of railway alignment and including the construction of new structures as well as the rehabilitation and renewal of track and signaling systems. The maximum operating speed of the passenger train of the upgraded line is set at 100 km/h, with the goal of reducing total travel time between Yangon and Mandalay to within eight hours. At present, the trains operate between Yangon and the capital, Naypyidaw, in approximately 5.5 hours.

　During the construction period, in addition to technical challenges, the project encountered significant changes in the external environment, including political instability and travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. These overlapping conditions created unforeseen circumstances, such as delays in the procurement of critical materials and equipment. Despite the presence of these complex risks, the project team sustained the organizational framework required for project execution and maintained close coordination with all stakeholders. Through these sustained efforts to address each challenge systematically, the railway construction works for the relevant section were successfully completed in 2024.