| Summary/Abstract |
This article will relate a history of planned railway routes passing through Bangkok or elsewhere in Thailand in pursuit of linking the potentially vast commercial market of China with the transport hub of Singapore. Those plans historically did not come to full fruition. But the current Chinese-backed plans mean that a rail link between China and Singapore is finally likely to become a reality within the coming decade. The benefits for Thailand are contested: while there will be more passenger and freight capacity the financial cost will be high. But there will for the first time in history be a direct rail connection from China to the Malayan peninsula. Indeed in theory it will be possible to board a train in Britain and step off one in Singapore, without having used any other form of transport on the way. Chinese motivations are commercial and geopolitical, as were those of historical schemes by other countries. Unlike historical schemes, however, China looks set to make the planned southeast Asian railway network a reality.
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