The system of transport in Cambodia, rudimentary at the best of times, was severely damaged in the chaos that engulfed the nation in the latter half of the 20th century. The country's weak transport infrastructure hindered emergency relief efforts, exacerbating the logistical issues of procurement of supplies in general and their distribution. Cambodia received Soviet technical assistance and equipment to support the maintenance of the transportation network.
Of the current total roadway network, only about 50% of the roads and highways are hard surfaced, all-weather, and in good condition. About 50% of the roads were constructed of crushed stone, gravel, or compacted earth. Secondary roads are of unimproved earth or were little more than tracks. In 1981 Cambodia opened a newly repaired section of National Route 1 which runs southeast from Phnom Penh to the Vietnamese border. The road, which suffered damage during the war years, was restored most probably by Vietnamese army engineers.
In the late-1980s, Cambodia's road network was both underutilized and unable to meet even the modest demands placed upon it by a preindustrial agrarian society. Commercial vehicles, such as trucks and buses, were insufficient in number and lacked the spare parts necessary to keep them running. Road construction and maintenance were ignored by a financially hard-pressed governments, while insurgents regularly destroyed bridges and rendered some routes unsafe for travel.
Cambodia is upgrading the main highways to international standards and most are vastly improved from 2006. Most main roads are now paved. And now road construction is on going from the Thailand border at Poipet to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat). Funded by over $3 billion of Chinese loans, Chinese companies have built 3,000 km (1,900 mi) of roads as well as several major bridges. [1]
An expressway network is being developed, the 190km Phnom Penh-Sikhanoukville expressway (E4) opened in October 2022, the construction to Bavet started in June 2023. [2]
Chart of 01/2014
| National Highway | Code | Approx length | Origin | Terminus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Highway 1 | 10001 | 167.10 km | 103.83 mi | Phnom Penh | Bavet - Vietnam Border |
| National Highway 2 | 10002 | 120.60 km | 74.94 mi | Phnom Penh | Phnom Den - Vietnam Border |
| National Highway 3 | 10003 | 202.00 km | 125.52 mi | Phnom Penh | Kampot - Veal Renh (NH4) |
| National Highway 4 | 10004 | 226.00 km | 140.43 mi | Phnom Penh | Sihanoukville |
| National Highway 5 | 10005 | 341.00 km | 211.89 mi | Phnom Penh | Battambang - Poipet - Thai Border |
| National Highway 6A | 10006A | 76.00 km | 47.22 mi | Phnom Penh | Skuon |
| National Highway 6 | 10006 | 416.00 km | 258.49 mi | Skuon | Siem Reap - Sisophon (NH5) |
| National Highway 7 | 10007 | 509.17 km | 316.38 mi | Skuon | Stung Treng - Laos Border |
| National Highway 8 | 10008 | 105.00 km | 65.24 mi | NH6A - Prek Tamak Bridge | to NH7 near the Vietnam Border. |
Motorcycles are by far the most common transport medium in Cambodia. "Cyclo" (as hand-me-down French) or cycle rickshaws were popular in the 1990s but are increasingly replaced by remorques (carriages attached to motorcycles) and rickshaws imported from India. Cyclos are unique to Cambodia in that the cyclist sits behind the passenger(s) seat, as opposed to cycle rickshaws in neighbouring countries where the cyclist is at the front and pulls the carriage. With 78% mobile phone penetration rate, ride-hailing apps have become popular in recent years. The first locally owned ride-hailing app, ExNet taxi app, was launched in 2016, after which another locally developed PassApp taxi was also introduced. [3]
The ExNet and PassApp use the same technology and architect for their application, except that ExNet is a taxi-based ride-hailing service while PassApp is more of rickshaw-based one. Uber and Grab joined the market in 2017. The entry and later merger of Uber and Grab did not negatively affect the local apps as the locals have the first-mover advantage and could secure a large number of patrons. As of today, PassApp is seen as an able competitor for the Singapore-based Grab in the Cambodian transport market. Thai Duong Bus Cambodia
Aside from the private-hire vehicles and ride-hailing service, public transport is also available but only in the capital. Phnom Penh city bus service started in 2015 with only three routes under the assistance of JICA. [4] Today, Phnom Penh City Bus operates 13 routes.
Two rail lines exist, both originating in Phnom Penh and totaling about 612 kilometers of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge single track. The first line or the northern line, built by The French colonial government, running from Phnom Penh to Poipet on the Thai border, between 1930 and 1940, with Phnom Penh Railway Station opening in 1932. The final connection with Thailand was completed by Royal State Railways in 1942. The service from Bangkok to Battambang was suspended when the French Indochinese Government resumed sovereignty over Battambang and the Sisophon area from Thailand on 17 December 1946, as Thailand was seen as a supporter of Khmer Issarak, the anti-French, Khmer nationalist political movement. [5]
A third line is planned to connect Phnom Penh with Vietnam, [6] the last missing link of the planned rail corridor between Singapore and the city of Kunming, China. A new north–south line is also planned. The lines from Phnom Penh to Sisophon and from Sisophon to Poipet have been rehabilitated; starting with Poipet to Srey Sisophon in April 2018 and Sisophon to Phnom Penh in early July (2018). [5]
The active part, the southern line, of the network is the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville line, with stops at Takeo and Kampot. The first line to be re-opened in Cambodia was the 118 km long route from Phnom Penh to Touk Meas and the complete southern line in May 2011 [7] (or Toll Royal Railway). Toll Royal Railway (Cambodia) [8] had been given a 30-year concession from The Royal Government of Cambodia to operate Cambodia's railway network.
Phnom Penh - Pursat - Moung Ruessei - Battambang - Sisophon - Poipet [9]
Phnom Penh - Takeo - Touk Meas - Damnak Chang'aeur - Veal Renh - Sihanoukville [10]
The nation's extensive inland waterways were important historically in domestic trade. The Mekong and the Tonlé Sap Rivers, their numerous tributaries, and the Tonlé Sap provided avenues of considerable length, including 3,700 kilometers navigable all year by craft drawing 0.6 meters and another 282 kilometers navigable to craft drawing 1.8 meters. In some areas, especially west of the Mekong River and north of the Tonle Sap River, the villages were completely dependent on waterways for communications. Launches, junks, or barges transport passengers, rice, and other food in the absence of roads and railways.
According to the Ministry of Communications, Transport, and Post, Cambodia's main ferry services crossing the Bassac River and the middle Mekong River were restored in 1985. The major Mekong River navigation routes also were cleared for traffic. Seaplane service to all waterways and islands in now offered by Aero Cambodia Airline.
Cambodia has two major ports, Phnom Penh Autonomous Port and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, also known as Kampong Som, and five minor ports. Phnom Penh, at the junction of the Bassac, the Mekong, and the Tonle Sap Rivers, is the only river port capable of receiving 8,000-ton ships during the wet season and 5,000-ton ships during the dry season. In 2018 the port received 205,000 TEUs totalling 2.9 million tonnes. Its 2018 profits were US$7.35 million, up 36% from 2017. [11]
Sihanoukville port reopened in late-1979. It had been built in 1960 with French assistance. In 1980 some 180 Soviet dockworkers, having brought with them forklifts and trucks, were reportedly working at Kampong Som as longshoremen or as instructors of unskilled Cambodian port workers. By 1984 approximately 1,500 Cambodian port workers were handling 2,500 tons of cargo per day. According to official statistics, Sihanoukville had handled only 769,500 tons in the four prior years (1979 to 1983), a level that contrasted sharply with the port's peacetime capacity of about one million tons of cargo per year.
The country possesses twenty-six airfields, of which only thirteen were usable in the mid-1980s. Eight airfields had permanent-surface runways. Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport in the tourist city of Siem Reap is the largest airport and replaced Siem Reap International Airport. In the past, tourist traffic into Siem Reap International Airport saw passenger numbers overtook those of Phnom Penh in 2006.
Cambodia's second largest airport is Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh; it also serves as the main base for the renascent Cambodian Air Force.
Cambodia also opened a new Soviet-built airfield at Ream, Sihanouk International Airport in late-1983, which never saw commercial air traffic until January 2007. There are additional airports in Battambang and Stung Treng.
The new national airline Cambodia Angkor Air was launched in 2009, with an investment from Vietnam Airlines, later in January 2025, it officially rebranched as Air Cambodia. Aero Cambodia Airline started business in 2011 offering flights to all airports and waterways with seaplanes. The low-cost airline AirAsia Cambodia was launched in 2022, with an investment from Malaysia AirAsia.
Techo Takhmao International Airport, intended to replace the existing Phnom Penh International Airport as the city's main airport, currently under construction in Kandal, Cambodia. Located about 30–40 kilometres (16–22 NM; 19–25 mi) south of Phnom Penh, it is expected to open in 2023 and be fully operational by 2025.
Phnom Penh is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, industrial, and cultural centre. Before Phnom Penh became capital city, Oudong was the capital of the country.
Articles related to Cambodia and Cambodian culture include:
Banteay Meanchey is a province of Cambodia located in the far northwest. It borders the provinces of Oddar Meanchey to the north, Siem Reap to the east, Battambang to the south, and shares an international border with Thailand to the west. Its capital and largest city is Serei Saophoan.
Battambang is a province of Cambodia in the far northwest of the country. Bordering provinces are Banteay Meanchey to the north, Pursat to the east and south, Siem Reap to the northeast, and Pailin to the west. The northern and southern extremes of the province's western boundaries form part of the international border with Thailand. In addition, Tonlé Sap forms part of the northeastern boundary between Siem Reap and Pursat. Its capital and largest city is Battambang.
Cambodia is divided into 25 provinces. The capital Phnom Penh is not a province but an "autonomous municipality", equivalent to a province governmentally and administered at the same level as the other 24 provinces.
Poipet is a city on the Cambodian–Thai border, in Poipet Municipality, Banteay Meanchey Province. It is a key crossing point between the two countries, and also extremely popular as a gambling destination as gambling is popular, but mostly illegal in Thailand.
Battambang is the capital of Battambang Province and the third largest city in Cambodia.
Media in Cambodia is largely unregulated and includes radio, television and print media outlets. Private sector companies have moved into the media sector, which represents a change from years of state-run broadcasting and publishing.
Siem Reap is the second-largest city of Cambodia, as well as the capital and largest city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia.
Mongkol Borey is a district (srok) in the south of Banteay Meanchey Province, in northwestern Cambodia. The district capital is the town of Mongkol Borey, around nine kilometres south of the provincial capital of Serei Saophoan by road. The district shares a border with Battambang Province to the south. The main railway line from Phnom Penh to Poipet on the border with Thailand runs through the district from north to south.
Serei Saophoan is a municipality (krong) in the centre of Banteay Meanchey province, in north-western Cambodia. Serei Saophoan is the urban district of Banteay Meanchey province and the district capital is also the provincial capital Sisophon town. The town is located 359 kilometres north of Phnom Penh and 48 kilometres from the border with Thailand at Poipet. Serei Saophoan municipality is the central municipality of Banteay Meanchey and is surrounded by other Banteay Meanchey districts. Cambodia's main railway line from Phnom Penh to Poipet enters the municipality from the south and exits to the west.
Phnom Penh Royal railway station is a railway station in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It is located next to the University of Health Sciences and the National University of Management as well as the Canadian embassy. This station was renovated and formally reopened October 22, 2010.
Cambodia has 612 km (380 mi) of 1,000 mm metre gauge rail network, consisting of two lines: one from the capital, Phnom Penh, to Sihanoukville, and another from Phnom Penh to Poipet, on the Thai border. The lines were originally constructed during the time when the country was part of French Indochina, but due to neglect and damage from civil war during the latter half of the 20th century, the railways were in a dilapidated state, and all services had been suspended by 2009. Through rehabilitation efforts by the government of Cambodia, with funding from the Asian Development Bank, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), and the Australian company Toll Holdings, freight and limited passenger service returned between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville by 2016, and passenger service between Phnom Penh and Poipet was fully restored in 2019.
Preah Sihanouk, also Sihanoukville, is a province (khaet) in southwest Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand. The provincial capital, also called Sihanoukville, is a deep water port city and a steadily growing and diversifying urban center on an elevated peninsula.
Sihanoukville, also known as Kampong Saom, is a coastal city in Cambodia and the capital of Preah Sihanouk Province, at the tip of an elevated peninsula in the country's south-west on the Gulf of Thailand. The city has a string of beaches along its coastline and coastal marshlands bordering Ream National Park in the east. It has one navigable river, the mangrove-lined Ou Trojak Jet, running from Otres Pagoda to the sea at Otres. Several sparsely inhabited islands under Sihanoukville's administration are near the city.
The city of Phnom Penh is served by multiple transport systems including public buses, private taxis and ride-hailing via mobile apps.
Lanmei Airlines (Cambodia) Co., Ltd was a Cambodian airline that operated scheduled flights.
Battambang Royal railway station is a railway station in Battambang, the capital city of Battambang province in northwestern Cambodia. It was opened in 1953 and is operated by Royal Railways of Cambodia.
The Expressway network of Cambodia currently consists of one expressway in operation, one expressway under construction, and one under feasibility study. The government has noted three goals for developing an expressway network:
This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook. CIA.
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