If all goes according to plan – and this is Myanmar, so that’s a big ‘if’ – trams will chug through a big chunk of downtown by the end of the year.
The government has announced that an electric tram service will start running the length of the Strand Road in October.
An agreement between the Ministry of Rail Transportation and West Corporation, a global trading company which supplies railroad cars, was signed Monday.
It’s the latest in a series of public transport initiatives designed to relieve chronic congestion in the city.
Trams were a common sight in downtown Yangon during the British colonial-era.
The first section of the route to open will be Pansodan to Ahlone Township in the west. Then, in December, the line will be extended eastwards to Yarzadirit street.
Photo / Strand Road in Yangon / Creative commons via Draconian Rain
