Myanma Railways

Rail transport was first launched in British Burma on 2 May 1877 with the opening of the 259-kilometre (161 mi) Rangoon (Yangon) to Prome (Pyay) line by The Irrawaddy Valley State Railway. Unusually for a British colonial railway, it was built to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge. Subsequent development was to the same gauge, though the 80 kilometres (50 mi) Burma Mines Railway opened in 1906 operated on a separate 2 ft (610 mm) gauge. In 1884, a new company, The Sittang Valley State Railway, opened a 267-kilometre (166 mi) line along the Sittaung River from Yangon to the town of Toungoo (Taungoo) via Pegu (Bago). After the annexation of Upper Burma following the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885, the Toungoo line was extended to Mandalay in 1889. Following the opening of this section, the Mu Valley State Railway was formed and construction began on a railway line from Sagaing to Myitkyina which connected Mandalay to Shwebo in 1891, to Wuntho in 1893, to Katha in 1895, and to Myitkyina in 1898. Extensions into southern Myanmar began in 1907 with the construction of the Bago-Mottama line. Passengers had to take a ferry over the Thanlwin River (Salween River) to Mawlamyaing.

In 1896, before the completion of the line to Myitkyina, the three companies were combined into the Burma Railway Company as a state owned public undertaking. In 1928, the railway was renamed Burma Railways and, in 1989, with the renaming of the country, it became Myanma Railways.

The Japanese invasion during the Second World War caused considerable damage to the rail network. In 1942, the country had 3,313 km (2,059 mi) (route-km) of metre gauge track, but the Japanese removed about 480 km (298 mi) and, by the end of the war, only 1,085 km (674 mi) (route-km) was operational in four isolated sections. The Japanese were also responsible for the construction of the Thailand - Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, using the labour of Allied prisoners of war, many of whom died in the attempt. The "Death Railway" link with Thailand fell into disuse after the war and the section of this line in Burma was permanently closed.

Attempts at rebuilding the network began in the 1950s following Burmese independence. By 1961 the network extended to 3,020 km (1,877 mi), and then remained constant until the opening of a 36 km (22 mi) line from Kyaukpadaung to Kyini in October 1970. In 1988, there were 487 operational railway stations over a 3,162 km (1,965 mi) long network. Since coming to power in 1988, the military government embarked on a railway construction program and, by 2000 the network had grown to 5,068 km (3,149 mi) (track-km) divided into 11 operating divisions. Between 1994 and 1998, the 160 km (99 mi) Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway in peninsular Myanmar was completed. With the construction of the 250 m (270 yd) road/rail bridge across the Ye River in 2003 and the 2.4 km (1.5 mi) Thanlwin Bridge in 2008, the Southern peninsula became fully integrated into the Myanmar's railway network. Also in 2008/9, the Ayeyawady Valley route was extended north along the west bank of the river towards Pakokku in the far north of the country. The 60 km (37 mi) Kyangin-Okshippin (Padang) section of Kyangin-Thayet railway was opened in March 2008 and the 56 km (35 mi) Okshippin-Kamma railway section was opened in March 2009.

In 2016 a tram route opened in Yangon, on a former heavy rail freight route through the city streets. Rolling stock is a three car train purchased second hand from Hiroshima, Japan; it is the first 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge, and a third rail was added to the line to accommodate it.