This line connects Mandalay with the mountainous Northern Shan State. Initially it was planned to construct the railway line into the Chinese Yunnan province. As the French also had planned to connect Yunnan with a railway line from Vietnam the construction of the line was sped up. However the French won the race as they reached Kunming in 1910 and the line from Mandalay which should initially run into China ended up in Lashio more than 200 kilometres away from the border.

The British built a hill station at Pyin Oo Lwin (Maymo) 50km east of Mandalay and 1,069m above sea level in order to escape the hot and humid plains around Mandalay. The first train reached the hill station on the 1st of April 1900. In order climb the nearly 1.000m in height, four reversal were built with gradients of up to 1:25. The rest of the line climbs the mountains with gradients up to 1:40 and a lot of curves. Only three weeks after Pyin Oo Lwin was reached the line was prolonged to Nawngkhio. One year later the line reached Hsipaw, however this remained an isolated line as near Nawngkhio the several 100 metres deep Gokteik gorge had to be crossed. The railway line crosses the gorge by two slopes on each side plus a 792.5m long and 110.9m high steel trestle bridge which itself stands on a natural bridge. With a construction height of 102m and standing 250m above the Gokteik River, the Gokteik viaduct constructed between 1900 and 1903 by the Pennsylvania and Maryland Bridge Construction Corp. as no British company dared to build the bridge is still one of the highest railway bridges in the world. Due to heavy insurgency activities and fear that the bridge is being attacked an emergency line was constructed between 1976 and 1978 which bypasses the viaduct using several reversals to reach the ground of the gorge. Most probably however the line has never been used, nevertheless it is still maintained. In March 1903 the line reached Lashio and further construction works came to a standstill. In order to support Chinese National troops which had retreated to Yunnan province in fights against the Japanese troops, the extensions plans to China were revived in the late 1930s. Two saddle tank locomotives were bought but before construction kicked off (see chapter 5.1.2.20 class SL), the Japanese troops had already attacked Burma and the construction was stopped. The military junta planned an extension to Muse on the Chinese border (see planned line PE4) but no attempts were made to realize the plans. Chinese plans to build a normal gauge railway line from Muse via Mandalay to Kyaukpyu on the western coast of Myanmar (see planned line PP1) will most probably also never be realized.

Initially the line was served using Fairlie locomotives (see chapter 5.1.2.7 class Dold and 5.1.2.9 class H. As the mine at Namtu led to heavy goods traffic, Mallet engines (see chapter 5.1.2.14 class N) were purchased followed by Garratt engines (see chapter 5.1.2.16 class GA). Nowadays there is only one passenger train per day and direction left as the Chinese have built a highway between Mandalay and the Chinese border.

 

This line was the second line up into the Shan Mountains which the British built after they had already built the line from Mandalay to Lashio further north. The first aim was to connect the British Hill station Kalaw which was reached on the 15th of December 1914. Four reversals with gradients of 1:25 and several curves and slopes were required to climb from Thazi (160m above sea level) to the summit near Kalaw (1,406m above sea level) which is crossed using a tunnel (the tunnel was already finished in 1913). From Kalaw to Heho the line has to cross several valleys and hill chains. From Heho the line descends to Shwenyaung, which was reached on the 2nd of May 1921, using a loop, slopes and gradients up to 1:25. Further expansions of the line were planned, however it took more than 70 years until some of the plans were realized (see lines Shwenyaung - Kyaingtong, Shwenyaung - Yawsawk, Aungban - Loikaw).

 

In 2005 the military junta moved the capital from Yangon to Naypitaw in the centre of the country. As the new capital should also become the railway hub of the country, trains to the different destinations should start/end in Naypitaw instead of Yangon and Mandalay. In order to avoid change of direction at Thazi station for trains running from Naypitaw to the Shan mountains (Shwenyaung, Yawksawk, Loikaw) without changing direction at Thazi this link was constructed. It is unknown whether this line has regular train services.

 

This line connects Loikaw, the capital of the Kayah State, with the railway line Thazi - Shwenyaung. It was opened in January 1993 and runs through the hilly Shan Highlands. This required gradients up to 1:17.

 

In 1936 it was already planned to construct a line from Shwenyaung to Hsipaw (on the line from Mandalay to Lashio). However plans were never realized. In the 1990s the military government kicked off the construction of several new lines. As part of this program a line from Shwenyaung to Yawksawk was constructed. The line with gradients up to 1:17 was opened on the 27th of March 1991. A prolongation to Hsipaw as initially planned in 1936 is not on the roadmap for further railway lines to be built in Myanmar.

 

Construction for the prolongation of the line from Thazi to Shwenyaung up to Kyaing Tong in the far east of the Shan Mountains started in the 1990s. Due to the shrugged mountain area construction is still not finished. Especially the sections Shwenyaung - Taunggyi, Banyin - Namsang and Namsang - Kyaing Tong are very difficult to construct. Shwenyaung and Taunggyi are lying very close to each other, but Taunggyi is lying nearly 500m metres above Shwenyaung. Initially it was planned to connect the two stations using reversals, but later on it was decided to uses slopes north of Shwenyaung. This section was built by the army with very sharp curves and gradients below 1:18. The poor quality leads to frequent derailments. Thus this section is only used by goods trains, passenger transport between Shwenyaung and Taunggyi is much easier using the road. Construction was started in areas were the line was easier to construct. Thus the sections Namsang - Moe-Ne and Taunggyi - Banyin which run through rather flat landscape and valleys were opened in 1995 and 1996. Operations on this isolated sections started immediately after finishing the construction. The rolling stock including locomotives were completely disassembled and transported to the isolated lines using trucks, a nightmare as the roads in this isolated areas are unpaved and cross rivers without bridges. Initially it was planned to connect Banyin with Moe-Ne using several reversals and tunnels. However this seemed to be too difficult and a connection between Banyin and Namsang was constructed by crossing the Nam Pawn river on a viaduct and then following the valley of the Mong Sit river to Namsang. As the section from Namsang to Moe-Ne was already finished this section became a branch (see Namsang - Moe-Ne). After the viaduct over the Nam Pawn river was finished the line reached Namsang on the 1st of January 2006. The further prolongation to Kyaing Tong is still under construction/planning. The landscape here becomes even more shrugged, several gorges (e.g. the Salween river gorge) have to be crossed.

 

This line was initially a planned section in the line from Shwenyaung to Namsang. However crossing the mountains between Banyin and Moe-Ne seemed to be too difficult and thus Banyin was connected directly with Namsang (see line Shwenyaung - Namsang - Kyaing Tong). But as the section from Namsang to Moe-Ne was already finished, it became a branch of the line from Shwenyaung to Kyaing Tong.