Two Chinese firms have submitted a feasibility study on constructing a rail route linking Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Phuoc province in Vietnam, part of the Trans-Asia railway, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported on June 11.

A partnership between the China Railway Construction Corporation and the China Machinery Import and Export Corporation have submitted Vietnam's Transport Ministry the study on building the 128.5-km route running from the edge of southern Ho Chi Minh City to the Vietnam-Cambodia border with estimated investment of 438 million US dollars.

The future route will allow passenger trains and cargo trains to run at a maximum speed of 120 km per hour and 80 km per hour, respectively. Construction of the route is scheduled to start in 2010 or earlier if funds for it are smoothly sought.

The route is part of the 5,500-km Trans-Asia railway, which is to begin in Kunming, Chinese Yunnan province, and travel through Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia before terminating in Singapore. The Trans-Asia railway, initiated by Malaysia in 1995, is expected to be completed in 2015.