NCPO approves US$34 billion rail line project plan

[webfact]

Thai junta approves $34 billion rail line project plan

BANGKOK - Thailand's military junta has approved a plan to invest in urgent infrastructure projects, including 867 billion baht (S$34 billion) for eight dual-track rail lines, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The investments for the projects will be from now till September next year, Soithip Traisutthi, the Transport ministry's permanent secretary, told reporters after a meeting with the army rulers.

Investments have stalled since the Southeast Asian country was hit by political unrest late last year. The army seized power on May 22 in a bid to restore order, and the new government is now approving projects to revive growth.

Full story: http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/thai-junta-approves-34-billion-rail-line-project-plan

-- asiaone 2014-07-30

[EricBerg]

Here we go. The billions will fly out. The original plan came from the missunderstood fugitive. Now the military government can show what it's worth in the economical field. Check and doublecheck all spendings. The project sounds like heaven for the corruption-vultures. Eight dualtrack lines sounds ok to me.But does Thailand really need two highspeedlines? Will the investment ever show a profit?

Edit: The two highspeed lines to the north (Chiang Khong and Nong Khai) are part of the 2.4 trillion plan, though not mentioned in the article

Edited July 30, 2014 by EricBerg

[webfact]

Military junta endorses almost a trillion baht high speed railway projects



BANGKOK: -- The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) on Tuesday gave a green light to the Transport Ministry's eight-year infrastructure development plan which highlights two high-speed dual track railway lines at 741 billion baht and the construction of six metre-gauge standard dual track railway routes covering a total distance of 887 kilometres at the cost of over 127 billion baht.

The two 1.435 metre wide or standard gauge high-speed dual track railway lines will be built from Nong Khai to Mab Ta Phut in the Eastern Seaboard, and from Chiang Khong in Chiang Rai to Ban Phachi railway junction in Lopburi.

The ministry’s eight-year infrastructure development scheme begins next year and last until 2022.

But for the six one-metre gauge railway track projects, they will begin on an urgent basis beginning from this year until next year.

The two standard-gauge routes are seen to replace the much-criticised high-speed train project initiated by the Yingluck government involving four routes, Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Bangkok to Rayong, Bangkok to Nong Khai, and Bangkok to Padang Besar.

Approved at the meeting of the NCPO at yesterday’s meeting, Transport ministry’s permanent secretary Soithip Traisuth said the two new routes could also served as a transport link between Thailand and South China.

She said construction cost of the two routes would be reduced significantly after the speed of high-speed train running on the 1.435 metre-wide dual track system will be capped to about 160 kilometres from earlier high-speed train project which was over 200 kilometres.

She said original investment cost of the high speed train project was 500-600 million baht per kilometre, but after reverting to dual-track standard guage railway system and with lower speed, the cost would drop to a range of 350-400 million baht per kilometre in length.

The Nong Khai-Mab Ta Phut route will be 737 kilometre in length and cost 392.5 billion baht while the Chiang Khong-Ban Phachi route will be 655 kilometres long and cost 348.8 billion baht. Construction of the two routes could begin next year and should be completed by 2021.

But she assured that the high-speed train dual track standards would be maintained even though the maximum speed of the trains would have to be lowered from 200 kilometres to 160 kilometres.

This was to allow a possible shift to a higher speed train system in the future after more investment were put in, she said.

Ms Soithip said said a study would be carried out to explore ways to bring the construction cost of the dual-track rail system from about 500-600 million baht per km to a range of 350-400 million baht per kilometre.

The working group comprising the National Budget Bureau and the Transport Ministry will next week work out a budgetary plan for the projects.

The group, chaired by NCPO deputy chief ACM Prajin Jantong overseeing economic affairs, is expected to come up with a conclusion on the funding sources in a month.

Also endorsed by the NCPO yesterday are six more metre gauge dual-track rail routes under the same urgent package.

These six routes will receive a total construction budget of 117.4 billion baht with construction to begin and finish next year, she said.

They are from China junction to Khon Kaen (185 kms), from Prachuap Khiri Khan to Chumphon ( 167 kms), from Nakhon Pathom to Hua Hin ( 165 kms), from Mab Kabao to Nakhon Ratchasima ( 132 kms), from Lopburi to Pak Nam Pho (148 kms), and from Hua Hin to Prachuap Khiri Khan ( 90 kms ).

Some of these projects have passed environment inspection assessments, she said.

With the completion of these projects, bottle neck railway traffic problems could be resolved and would increase railway traffic from the current 288 trips per day to 800 trips per day,she assured.

(Pic : file photo)

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/military-junta-endorses-almost-trillion-baht-high-speed-railway-projects/


-- Thai PBS 2014-07-30

[khwaibah]

On the negative side ..What a waste of money that should be spent on health and education. On the positive side, so much for Chiang Mia's hi-so dreams.

[laolover88]

What they need to do is incorporate Thailand's fringes into the 'centre' Mae Hong Son, Mukdahan and Nakhon Phanom,

Southern Provinces +Phuket/Ranong and update the existing lines. How can they build a first world economy with a

third world rail network. It is all very well to have a relatively good internal air network and Linfox trucks

dashing about for Lotus. There is a chance to build an integrated transport infrastructure..will they take it??

[Gunna]

Military junta endorses almost a trillion baht high speed railway projects

BANGKOK: -- The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) on Tuesday gave a green light to the Transport Ministry's eight-year infrastructure development plan which highlights two high-speed dual track railway lines at 741 billion baht and the construction of six metre-gauge standard dual track railway routes covering a total distance of 887 kilometres at the cost of over 127 billion baht.

The two 1.435 metre wide or standard gauge high-speed dual track railway lines will be built from Nong Khai to Mab Ta Phut in the Eastern Seaboard, and from Chiang Khong in Chiang Rai to Ban Phachi railway junction in Lopburi.

The ministry’s eight-year infrastructure development scheme begins next year and last until 2022.

But for the six one-metre gauge railway track projects, they will begin on an urgent basis beginning from this year until next year.

The two standard-gauge routes are seen to replace the much-criticised high-speed train project initiated by the Yingluck government involving four routes, Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Bangkok to Rayong, Bangkok to Nong Khai, and Bangkok to Padang Besar.

Approved at the meeting of the NCPO at yesterday’s meeting, Transport ministry’s permanent secretary Soithip Traisuth said the two new routes could also served as a transport link between Thailand and South China.

She said construction cost of the two routes would be reduced significantly after the speed of high-speed train running on the 1.435 metre-wide dual track system will be capped to about 160 kilometres from earlier high-speed train project which was over 200 kilometres.

She said original investment cost of the high speed train project was 500-600 million baht per kilometre, but after reverting to dual-track standard guage railway system and with lower speed, the cost would drop to a range of 350-400 million baht per kilometre in length.

The Nong Khai-Mab Ta Phut route will be 737 kilometre in length and cost 392.5 billion baht while the Chiang Khong-Ban Phachi route will be 655 kilometres long and cost 348.8 billion baht. Construction of the two routes could begin next year and should be completed by 2021.

But she assured that the high-speed train dual track standards would be maintained even though the maximum speed of the trains would have to be lowered from 200 kilometres to 160 kilometres.

This was to allow a possible shift to a higher speed train system in the future after more investment were put in, she said.

Ms Soithip said said a study would be carried out to explore ways to bring the construction cost of the dual-track rail system from about 500-600 million baht per km to a range of 350-400 million baht per kilometre.

The working group comprising the National Budget Bureau and the Transport Ministry will next week work out a budgetary plan for the projects.

The group, chaired by NCPO deputy chief ACM Prajin Jantong overseeing economic affairs, is expected to come up with a conclusion on the funding sources in a month.

Also endorsed by the NCPO yesterday are six more metre gauge dual-track rail routes under the same urgent package.

These six routes will receive a total construction budget of 117.4 billion baht with construction to begin and finish next year, she said.

They are from China junction to Khon Kaen (185 kms), from Prachuap Khiri Khan to Chumphon ( 167 kms), from Nakhon Pathom to Hua Hin ( 165 kms), from Mab Kabao to Nakhon Ratchasima ( 132 kms), from Lopburi to Pak Nam Pho (148 kms), and from Hua Hin to Prachuap Khiri Khan ( 90 kms ).

Some of these projects have passed environment inspection assessments, she said.

With the completion of these projects, bottle neck railway traffic problems could be resolved and would increase railway traffic from the current 288 trips per day to 800 trips per day,she assured.

(Pic : file photo)

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/military-junta-endorses-almost-trillion-baht-high-speed-railway-projects/

-- Thai PBS 2014-07-30

This seems to make a lot of sense as Standard gauge ie 1.435M is used in China and the 2 routes are specifically designed to link to China. Plus it is a better gauge for higher speeds rather the the existing gauge 1M which needs to be kept to link with Thailand's neighbours who also use the same gauge. Also upgrading the existing lines to mostly dual tracks will minimise accidents and speed up the travel times as trains no longer have to wait in passing bays.

Do railways need to make a profit ?

Roads don't unless they are toll roads and a portion of the money is lost in salaries to pay the toll collectors and it slows down travel time and increases fuel consumption. Plus if more freight goes by rail there will be less trucks on the roads, so less congestion, less accidents, no need to add extra lanes to existing roads and much less damage to the roads from heavy trucks.

[thesetat2013]

Just think of the excitement riding in a thai train that uses dual tracks! Since the SRT cant even keep trains from derailing on their singles tracks and dont maintain those tracks it will be all the more exciting while travelling this way.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[smutcakes]

"She said original investment cost of the high speed train project was 500-600 million baht per kilometre, but after reverting to dual-track standard guage railway system and with lower speed, the cost would drop to a range of 350-400 million baht per kilometre in length.

The Nong Khai-Mab Ta Phut route will be 737 kilometre in length and cost 392.5 billion baht while the Chiang Khong-Ban Phachi route will be 655 kilometres long and cost 348.8 billion baht. Construction of the two routes could begin next year and should be completed by 2021."

So 741 bn baht approved for the above, which roughly equates to 532 million baht per km. Should they not establish and approve a budget at the cost it is going to be when reverted to dual track at lower speed which she says is between 350-400 million per km. Why are they approving a budget on the old plan rather than establish the cost of the new and approving a budget on that?

The difference between the approved amount at 532 million per km, and what she says 'it would cos't of 350 million per km, over the 1392 km is a mere 254 bn baht, and that is me taking her bottom end of 350.

Why would you get approval at a rate which is not what you are building? when spending that much money should they not establish the actual cost? I hope someone keeps a track on the differential between what is approved at a rate of 532 million per km, and the actual cost of 350-400 million per km.

[GiantFan]

In China, nearly everybody takes the high speed train if they can. From Beijing to Shanghai in 5 hours. You can arrive 10 minutes before your departure. Always leaves on time. Around THB 2,800 one way economy. Seats are roomy. About the same distance as BKK to SIN. Travels at around 300 km/hr.

If you go by plane, it is a bit more expensive, say THB 200 more. We all know that economy seats on a plane are terrible. Flight time is 2 1/2 hrs. But you need to arrive well in advance and hope you are not delayed. The airport is way the hell out in the middle of nowhere vs. the train station is a short (cheap) metro ride away.

I take it all the time for the stress free travel and I can easily do work during the trip. The internet sometimes drops out, but bearable.

The 150 km/hr version will be OK for cargo, but won't replace flying.

[JoePai]

Great news at last something sensible for the railways the only thing I would say is I wish it was all standard gauge.

[ginjag]

I told you the General was reading my posts.

My original outcry on the PTP plan was please make it dual and routes from Nong Khai, incorp., Udon-K.Khen, Khorat and on AND standard gauge,

Yippee.

High speed up to C Mai was a top priority because of Family ?? there.

The line from C.Rai down to Lop Buri.

Notice the cities engulfed in this and industry---good sense.

[Thai at Heart]

Nong Khai to Mab Ta Phut in the Eastern Seaboard, and from Chiang Khong in Chiang Rai to Ban Phachi railway junction in Lopburi.

Nongkai to Mapthaput? Where did this little chestnut enter the original plan? <deleted>?

[smutcakes]

I told you the General was reading my posts.

My original outcry on the PTP plan was please make it dual and routes from Nong Khai, incorp., Udon-K.Khen, Khorat and on AND standard gauge,

Yippee.

High speed up to C Mai was a top priority because of Family ?? there.

The line from C.Rai down to Lop Buri.

Notice the cities engulfed in this and industry---good sense.

Without wanting to pee on your parade, the C.Rai to Lopburi i believe is freight not passenger, the same as Nongkhai- Mataphut.

Any train system which carries passengers in Thailand and wants to at least try and make money, needs to be connected to BKK.

[ginjag]

I told you the General was reading my posts.

My original outcry on the PTP plan was please make it dual and routes from Nong Khai, incorp., Udon-K.Khen, Khorat and on AND standard gauge,

Yippee.

High speed up to C Mai was a top priority because of Family ?? there.

The line from C.Rai down to Lop Buri.

Notice the cities engulfed in this and industry---good sense.

Without wanting to pee on your parade, the C.Rai to Lopburi i believe is freight not passenger, the same as Nongkhai- Mataphut.

Any train system which carries passengers in Thailand and wants to at least try and make money, needs to be connected to BKK.

You just peed on your parade, Where did I mention passengers-----read it again, I did in fact include cities-industry. Who actually said these 2 routes will be for freight only. are freight lines different to passenger lines???

[ginjag]

I told you the General was reading my posts.

My original outcry on the PTP plan was please make it dual and routes from Nong Khai, incorp., Udon-K.Khen, Khorat and on AND standard gauge,

Yippee.

High speed up to C Mai was a top priority because of Family ?? there.

The line from C.Rai down to Lop Buri.

Notice the cities engulfed in this and industry---good sense.

Without wanting to pee on your parade, the C.Rai to Lopburi i believe is freight not passenger, the same as Nongkhai- Mataphut.

Any train system which carries passengers in Thailand and wants to at least try and make money, needs to be connected to BKK.

Note UK not all train lines go to London, shipping /airports/freight rail connection for international ??

[chotthee]

On the negative side ..What a waste of money that should be spent on health and education. On the positive side, so much for Chiang Mia's hi-so dreams.

Now that Yingluck is gone, should the Southern line to the 3 southern provinces take priority rather than giving it to the Red-shirt Lanna North?

[CantSpell]

Even with the best intention of the world, validating those costly projects is too hasty imo...

The business sharks are waiting and with years of experience in profiting from government projects, they will certainly find ways to pay themselves even under military rules..

[buhi]

On the negative side ..What a waste of money that should be spent on health and education. On the positive side, so much for Chiang Mia's hi-so dreams.

Now that Yingluck is gone, should the Southern line to the 3 southern provinces take priority rather than giving it to the Red-shirt Lanna North.

China is to the North of Thailand.

[JoePai]

On the negative side ..What a waste of money that should be spent on health and education. On the positive side, so much for Chiang Mia's hi-so dreams.

Now that Yingluck is gone, should the Southern line to the 3 southern provinces take priority rather than giving it to the Red-shirt Lanna North.

China is to the North of Thailand.

Agreed but make more sense to drop CM but leave the NK line as can also feed Laos and Vietnam plus nearer to China main population/industrial areas.

Put the money to better use for the South

[doctorproc156]

Good idea, use a standard gauge line to connect the ports on the eastern seabord to Laos. Laos will have completed the construction of their standard gauge railway to Vietnam and China by then. Freight from China will make a lot of Money. The meter gauge lines should be then electrified once the dual tracking is done / do them at the same time.

[paddyjenkins]

Would it not be cheaper to simply move the further out cities closer to Bangkok?

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[american12bthai]

Here we go. The billions will fly out. The original plan came from the missunderstood fugitive. Now the military government can show what it's worth in the economical field. Check and doublecheck all spendings. The project sounds like heaven for the corruption-vultures. Eight dualtrack lines sounds ok to me.But does Thailand really need two highspeedlines? Will the investment ever show a profit?

Edit: The two highspeed lines to the north (Chiang Khong and Nong Khai) are part of the 2.4 trillion plan, though not mentioned in the article

i believe china will pay for the construction of this... NOT THAILAND, in exchange they will transport their looted goods from africa through thailand. ... yes, it will skip chaing mai. because chaing mai is not the destination.

lol if you think thaksin came up with this plan. lol, no.

this is chinas deal to thailand...... the PROBLEM IS WHICH FAMILY WILL CLAIM THE MONOPOLY OF THE PROFITS.

[EricBerg]

Here we go. The billions will fly out. The original plan came from the missunderstood fugitive. Now the military government can show what it's worth in the economical field. Check and doublecheck all spendings. The project sounds like heaven for the corruption-vultures. Eight dualtrack lines sounds ok to me.But does Thailand really need two highspeedlines? Will the investment ever show a profit?

Edit: The two highspeed lines to the north (Chiang Khong and Nong Khai) are part of the 2.4 trillion plan, though not mentioned in the article

i believe china will pay for the construction of this... NOT THAILAND, in exchange they will transport their looted goods from africa through thailand. ... yes, it will skip chaing mai. because chaing mai is not the destination.

lol if you think thaksin came up with this plan. lol, no.

this is chinas deal to thailand...... the PROBLEM IS WHICH FAMILY WILL CLAIM THE MONOPOLY OF THE PROFITS.

So the 2.4 trillion will be solely for the 8 dual track lines? Surely part of it must be borrowed for paying the not so high speed (160 km/h) lines?

[Ricardo]

Nong Khai to Mab Ta Phut in the Eastern Seaboard, and from Chiang Khong in Chiang Rai to Ban Phachi railway junction in Lopburi.

Nongkai to Mapthaput? Where did this little chestnut enter the original plan? <deleted>?

It didn't, but it does allow for that potentially-profitable Chinese-freight via Laos to use the main Thai container-port, rather than merely passing it through to Singapore, which perhaps cuts construction-costs while boosting the benefits to Thailand itself ? Smart !

Clearly Chiang Khong to Ban Phachi/Lopburi is the start of a second route, for Chinese freight, and would feed into the double-track meter-gauge Thai-system initially, with the change-of-gauge initially at Lopburi, perhaps extending further South to the Eastern-Seaboard or Singapore longer-term ?

Thai rice could also move Northwards to China, from the rice-bowl plains, a boost for exports ?

The proposal cuts out the pointless/profitless Chiang Mai-Bangkok high-speed passenger-link, lunchboxes and all. More sense there !

It accelerates the existing behind-schedule SRT track-doubling plans, including stretching South from Nakhon Pathom to Chumpon via Hua Hin & Prachuap Khiri Khan, towards the recently-doubled stretch South of the Malaysian-border. One can foresee the doubled meter-gauge eventually running all-the-way from Singapore, through Malaysia & southern-Thailand, up to Lopburi & thence by high-speed via Chiang Khong to southern-China.

It saves a serious sum on initial construction by running at medium-speed, rather than high-speed, another sensible saving.

All-in-all, it looks a more-affordable improved-system, better for Thailand while avoiding the excess of PTP's vision.

Always provided that it actually gets financed & built.

[ebean001]

This will increase tourist in Chian Mai. many will want to take the train just to see Thailand.

[Eric Loh]

Nong Khai to Mab Ta Phut in the Eastern Seaboard, and from Chiang Khong in Chiang Rai to Ban Phachi railway junction in Lopburi.

Nongkai to Mapthaput? Where did this little chestnut enter the original plan? <deleted>?

Nongkai to MTP can only think of 2 reasons. MTP is an industrial estate and has a port. Perhaps served as route for supporting industries that will invest into North and NorthEast as cheaper alternatives. The port will be useful to ship inland cargoes to importing countries.

[ginjag]

Sorry guys to bring up the subject but for far less cost double track no Chiang M bullet. N Khai to eastern seaboard, etc. The point being a far better and cheaper rail network, for industry and cities. AND THESE PEOPLE ARE ONLY SOLDIERS and have no idea how to run anything==being the cry from some.

Up to now soldiers seem to be better than the last cabinet by far. Talk about lose face.

[khunken]

I like the plan. So much better to break the infrastructure projects down into single type blocks and stagger the implementation. Good too that the HST is on the back-burner until Thailand sorts out & upgrades the current railway lines (and preferably SRT too).

Next should be an urgent plan to sort out the SRT's huge debt which should be written off (or most of it) as it is mainly caused by unprofitable fares and freebies which the SRT never seems to have been compensated for (by any government).

[khunken]

Sorry guys to bring up the subject but for far less cost double track no Chiang M bullet. N Khai to eastern seaboard, etc. The point being a far better and cheaper rail network, for industry and cities. AND THESE PEOPLE ARE ONLY SOLDIERS and have no idea how to run anything==being the cry from some.

Up to now soldiers seem to be better than the last cabinet by far. Talk about lose face.

A bit OTT ginjag. The NCPO approved the Transport Ministry's plan.

I don't think they are too deeply into detailed planning but they certainly are very good at overseeing that others (esp the BIB) don't overstep the mark.

[newermonkey]

"Ms Soithip said said a study would be carried out to explore ways to bring the construction cost of the dual-track rail system from about 500-600 million baht per km to a range of 350-400 million baht per kilometre."

Yes just miss out the foundations many Thai construction companies know how to do this very well.