Myanma Railways is seeking bids for 24 rail cars as part of a multi-billion dollar project to upgrade train travel between Yangon and Mandalay, the Nikkei Asian Review reported.
Bidding for the diesel-electric rail cars will close next March, with a decision later in 2017, NAR said in the December 10 report.
It said the cost of the carriages would be paid for from about ¥45 billion (K522 billion) in official development assistance that Japan has said it would provide to Myanmar.
Myanma Railways is working to upgrade the line between the country’s two biggest cities as part of a project expected to total billions of dollars, the report said. The project includes repairing and upgrading track and signalling systems.
Japanese companies, including makers of rolling stock, were keenly interested in the project, NAR said, noting that multinational conglomerate Hitachi and trading house Mitsubishi Corporation won an order in May 2015 to install signalling systems on part of the line.
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The report said the National League for Democracy government had begun investing in public transport infrastructure after years of neglect under military rule that had left the rail network slow and accident-prone.
