A 1995 feasibility study, limited to Bangladesh, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, had identified a basic network of routes, recommended certain technical and operational standards for this network and provided a limited appraisal of the status of the existing routes in relation with these standards. In the light of the development of trade and economic exchanges between the countries belonging to subregional groupings in South and South-east Asia (Economic Cooperation Organisation, Bangladesh-India-Myanmar-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation), it was decided that the time had come to expand the scope of the study to include China, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Turkey and to (i) re-evaluate, and if necessary re-define, the network previously identified, (ii) assess the improvements required in institutional and commercial procedures to attract international traffic to the corridor, (iii) define an Action Plan for the development of the corridor to facilitate inter- and intra-regional trade and economic growth. The findings and recommendations of the study were considered by the representatives of all the countries concerned during a Policy-level Expert Group Meeting held in Dhaka (Bangladesh) in May 1999 during which the countries agreed on the establishment of Working Groups to study the gradual operationalisation of the corridors. Following the Meeting, the study was published as Trans-Asian Railway in the Southern Corridor of Asia-Europe Routes (ST/ESCAP/1980, New York, 1999).