Dhaka has sought financial and technical assistance from Beijing to expand its railway network up to Ramu in Cox's Bazaar District, as part of a move to develop infrastructure links to Burma.

The Bangladesh government has already written to the Chinese government seeking assistance for setting up a 128 kilometer railway track from Dohazari in Chittagong to Ramu, communication ministry officials said on April 5.

"The response from Beijing to provide financial and technical assistance is expected to be positive," a senior ministry official said, adding that China was interested in establishing a communication network between Kunming City in China's Yunnan Province and the Chittagong seaport in Bangladesh via Burma.

Setting up a railway track from Dohazari in Chittagong to Gundom on the border inside Arakan State in Burma, via Ramu in Cox's Bazaar, is part of the Trans-Asian Railway Agreement that Bangladesh had signed on 9 November, 2007.

Military-ruled Burma is party to the 28 nation Trans-Asian Railway, sponsored by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

Bangladesh has already struck a deal with Burma to establish a road network between the two countries and has agreed to pay for construction of a 20 kilometer road inside Burma.

The Trans-Asian Railway would link Bangladesh with six countries in East Asia -- Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapore - as well as with European countries via Turkey. The Trans-Asian Railway would also connect Bangladesh with India at two points and with Burma at one point.

Despite the unsettled disputes over maritime demarcation by the Bangladesh Government, reports of the railway came after construction began on the Sittwe - Ann railway track in Arakan State, last month. Sittwe is the capital of Arakan State near Bangladesh, and Ann is a strategic garrison town, where the headquarters of the Western Command of the Burmese Army is located, controlling Ann Pass and the gateway to Burma proper, an exiled politician said.