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Yangon Circular Railway ( my, ရန်ကုန် မြို့ပတ် ရထား ) is the local commuter rail network that serves the
Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
metropolitan area. Operated by
Myanmar Railways Rail transport in Myanmar consists of a railway network with 960 stations. The network, generally spanning north to south with branch lines to the east and west, is the second largest in Southeast Asia, and includes the Yangon Circular Railway ...
, the 39-station loop system connects satellite towns and suburban areas to the city. Circa 2008–2010, the railway had about 200 coaches, had 20 daily runs, and sold 100,000 to 150,000 tickets daily. The railway is heavily utilized by lower-income commuters, as it is (along with buses) the cheapest method of transportation in Yangon. The hours of service have been consistent over the years, from 3:45 am to 10:15 pm daily. In 2011, the cost of a ticket for a distance of 15 miles was two hundred
kyat The kyat (, or ; my, ကျပ် ; ISO 4217 code MMK) is the currency of Myanmar (Burma). The typical notation for the kyat is "K" (singular) and "Ks." (plural), placed before the numerals followed by " /-" The term ''kyat'' derives from t ...
s (~eighteen US cents), and that for over 15 miles was four hundred kyats (~37 US cents). In the new currency (introduced in 2012) long distance tickets are 200 kyat (~20 US cents).


History

Yangon Circular Railway was built during colonial times by the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
. The
double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...
railway was built in 1954. In July 2011, the Ministry of Rail Transportation announced that it intended to privatize the Yangon Circular Railway, since the government-run system operates at a loss for the government, with monthly operating costs about 260 million kyats () and monthly revenues about 42 million kyats (). Ticket prices have been kept low because of ministry subsidies. In December 2012,
Japan International Cooperation Agency The is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries, and the promotion of international co ...
began its collaboration with Yangon City Development Committee to develop a master plan for the Greater Yangon region, including the issue of public transport. In 2015 air conditioned coaches were introduced with a slightly higher ticket cost, but these did not last long, and by mid 2016 air conditioning was no longer available. Myanmar Railways has had plans for a major upgrade for the Circle Line since 2012. It is to be funded in large part by a $212 million loan from Japan’s development agency. The hope is for all of the coaches and engines to be replaced by 2020, along with automation of the signaling systems and replacement of the aging tracks. The frequency of trains would be increased from the current two per hour. In December, 2020, a contract was awarded to a consortium of Japan's
Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
and Spain's CAF to provide 11 six-car diesel powered trains with the aim of reducing the travel time of the full loop from 170 to 110 minutes.


Route and stations

The loop network consists of 39 stations, linking various parts of Yangon. The entire circular trip takes approximately 3 hours. Map from train is shown to the right, with approximate location of stations. The loop begins from Yangon Central Railway Station to Mingaladon Railway Station near
Yangon International Airport Yangon International Airport ( ) is the primary and busiest international airport of Myanmar. The airport is located in Mingaladon, north of central Yangon. All ten Myanmar carriers and about 30 international airlines operate at Yangon Intern ...
, via Insein to the west and Okkalapa in the east. The major stations are as follows: * Yangon Central *
Dagon University Dagon University ( my, ဒဂုံ တက္ကသိုလ် ), located in North Dagon, Yangon, is one of the largest universities in Myanmar. The university, established in 1993, offers bachelor's and master's degrees in liberal arts and sci ...
* Danyingon * Hlawga * Insein * Mingaladon * Okhposu * Paywetseikkon *
Thilawa Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa ( my, မြန်မာ အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ ဆိပ်ကမ်း သီလဝါ, abbreviated MITT), also known as the Yangon Port International Terminal or Thilawa Port, ...
* Togyaunggalay * Ywathagyi *
University of Computer Studies, Yangon The University of Computer Studies, Yangon (UCSY) ( my, ရန်ကုန်ကွန်ပျူတာတက္ကသိုလ် ), located in the outskirts of Yangon in Hlawga, is the leading IT and computer science university of Myanmar. Th ...


Rolling stock

*
KiHa 40 series The is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) train type introduced by Japanese National Railways (JNR) in 1977 and operated by all Japan Railways Group companies on suburban and rural services in Japan. Since 2017, the train type has seen use by other ...
*
KiHa 11 The is a single-car diesel multiple unit (DMU) train type operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and Tokai Transport Service Company (TKJ) on driver-only operated rural services in central Japan. A total of 43 cars were built ...
* KiHa 38


Gallery

File:Yangon Central railway station 12.jpg, Yangon Central railway station File:Yangon Central.jpg, Yangon Central ticket booth for Circular Railway tickets File:Yangon Circular Railway Map.jpg, Map on platform, March 2017 File:The Yangon Circular Railway (15049786666).jpg, Inside a Yangon circular train File:Aungsan Myot Station.jpg, The station before Danyingon Market station File:YANGON_CIRCULAR_RAILWAY_YANGON_MYANMAR_JAN_2013_(8528287964).jpg, Train, Jan 2013 File:Hawker.jpg, Circular Railway hawker File:Yangon Circular Railway.png, Map File:Yangon Circular Railway and Suburban Rail.png, Map with suburban services File:Yangon Circular Railway Map in Train.JPG, Map in train File:Yangon Circular Railway Timetable 2014-12-01 small.jpg, Circle Train Times, 2014 File:Train_in_yangon_Circular_Railway.jpg, Train on Yangon Circle File:YangonTrainFan.webm, A multi-directional ceiling fan in Yangon circle train.


See also

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References

{{coord missing, Myanmar Railway loop lines Metre gauge railways in Myanmar Transport in Yangon Articles containing video clips