Transcontinental Railroad - Asia

Asia

• The Trans-Asian Railway is a project to link Singapore to Istanbul and is to a large degree complete with missing pieces primarily between Iran and Pakistan (under construction in 2005), and in Myanmar, aside from political issues. The project has also linking corridors to China, the central Asian states, and Russia. This transcontinental line unfortunately uses a number of different gauges, 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄₂ in), 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in), 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 5⁄₆ in) and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄₈ in), though this problem may be lessened with the use of variable gauge axle systems such as the SUW 2000.
  • The Zahedan connection opened in August 2008.
• The TransKazakhstanTrunk Railways project by Kazakhstan Temir Zholy will connect China and Europe at a gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄₂ in). Construction is set to start in 2006. Initially the line will go to western Kazakhstan, south through Turkmenistan to Iran, then to Turkey and Europe. A shorter to-be-constructed 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄₂ in) link from Kazakhstan is considered going through Russia and either Belarus or Ukraine.
• The Baghdad Railway connects Istanbul with Baghdad and finally Basra, a sea port at the Persian Gulf. When its construction started in the 1880s it was in those times a Transcontinental Railroad.