Trains will run again on the Pyitawthar-Yaychanpyin railway section in Sittwe Township, Arakan State, according to the state regime council’s transportation minister.

Locomotive and coach cars have been prepared and railway tracks on the railway section are repaired now, said the minister, Police Colonel Thet Lwin.

“We have arranged to repair roads and bridges between Pyitaethar and Pardalate before trains will run between Yaychanpyin and Pyitawthar,” he told DMG.

He said he did not know an exact date for when trains might resume the Yaychanpyin-Pyitawthar route.

“It depends on budget allocation. The current budget will end on March 31, so the repair work can be completed after April,” he said.

He added that he did not know details because the Union government is conducting the repair work on the railway section.

U Maung Thar Sein, a town elder in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, said providing train service along the affected railway section does not benefit the public because Yaychanpyin is not a major trading hub.

“Authorities should work on the routes that are essential to transport goods to Sittwe. There is no trade flow in Yaychanpyin,” he said.

The Sittwe-Kyauktaw railway is divided into two sections; Pyitawthar-Yaychanpyin, which is nearly 11.5 miles long, and Kantaung-Kyauktaw, which is about 42.6 miles long, according to government figures. There are four railway stations between Pyitawthar and Yaychanpyin.

Some railway stations in Arakan State were frequently closed over recent years due to regional conflict, cyclone events and their aftermath, and other infrastructure challenges. Train services along the Kantaung-Kyauktaw railway section were suspended on March 14, 2019, due to security concerns in the area.