The project was started in the 1950s. The idea then was to have 8750 miles (14,000km) of rail link between Singapore and Istanbul, Turkey. Further connections to Europe and Africa were also considered. At that time, there was not as much shipping and air travel as today, and the project promised to make shipping faster and cheaper between Europe and Asia. Progress in developing the TAR was slowed by political and economic problems during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. By the 1990s, the end of the Cold war, and normal relations between some countries, made it seem more possible to create a rail network across the Asian continent.