Rail transport in Myanmar

Rail transport in Myanmar consists of a 6,207.644 km (3,857 mi) railway network with 960 stations.^[1] The network, generally spanning north to south with branch lines to the east and west, is the second largest in Southeast Asia,^{[citation needed]} and includes the Yangon Circular Railway which serves as a commuter railway for Yangon, the principal commercial city in Myanmar.^[2] The quality of the railway infrastructure is generally poor. The tracks are in poor condition, and are not passable during the monsoon season. The speed of freight trains is heavily restricted on all existing links as a consequence of poor track and bridge conditions. The maximum speed for freight trains has been quoted as 24 km/h (15 mph), suggesting that commercial speeds on this section could be as low as 12–14 km/h (7.5–8.7 mph).^[3]

The network is run by Myanma Railways (Burmese: မြန်မာ့ မီးရထား, pronounced [mjəma̰ míjətʰá]; formerly Burma Railways), a state-owned railway company under the Ministry of Rail Transportation.^[4][5] In the 2013-14 fiscal year, Myanma Railways carried about 60 million passengers (35 million in the circular railway and 25 million inter-city travelers) and 2.5 million metric tons of freight. Its rolling stock consisted of 384 locomotives, 1,600 passenger railcars, and 3,600 freight wagons.^[1]

The network has steadily increased in size, from nearly 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi) in 1988 to 6,207.644 kilometres (3,857.251 mi) in 2015.^[1] Myanma Railways is undertaking an ambitious expansion program that will add another 3,645 km (2,265 mi) to its network, making it spread in to 13,941 km (8,663 mi) including extensions to Myeik in the south, Kyaingtong in the east, Sittwe in the west.^{[6][verification needed]}