1.
SV Signalman waving train out of phnom Penh (2 shots)
0.18

2.
SV INTERIOR Workman cleaning equipment
0.24

3.
SV Train engineers in cab of train
0.34

4.
SCU Train nameplate ZOOM OUT TO workers riding in wagon
0.38

5.
SV & GV Wagons loaded with railway ties (2 shots)
???

6.
SV ZOOM OUT TO GV Stacks of metal rails or girders (2 shots)
1.18

7.
SV AND PAN Workers boarding train at Phnom Penh (2 shots)
1.46



Initials BB/



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In kampuchea, work has begun to restore the country's railway lines, torn up and mined during the years of civil war. The government hopes that within the net few months essential lines to the north and south of the country will again be able to carry goods and passengers o regular services.

SYNOPSIS: This train moving out of Phnom Penh, station is not on a scheduled service. It has been allowed twenty days to travel 250 kilometres (155 miles) to the southern port of Kom Pon Son--and carry out repairs to the line on the way.

According to the General Director of the Kampuchean Railways, the Kom Pong Son line is out of actinon along some of its length. This repair train and its crew of maintenance crew of maintenance engineers is the first to try and restore Kampuchea's decimated railways.

He says that soon a similar train will be leaving the capital for Battambang in the north west--but more carriages and equipment will be needed for that journey since not only has over a sixth of the 365 kilometre (225 miles) long Battambang line been completely destroyed, it was also mined by Cambodian troops of the Pol Pot army in March and April. This mans that more railway tracks and materials will have to be carried and a bigger contingent of military security forces will have to accompany the train.

Despite these difficulties, the kampuchean Railways Board hopes that with their present ??? to restore two of the country's main railway lines, transportation will be back to near-normal within the next few months--and that is important for supplying the needs of the civilian population. So soon the signals at Phnom Penh station could be on "go" for the first regular passenger service.