High-speed train start delayed to next year

Unfinished studies for train projects & disagreements with Chinese over contract & design means projects will start next year, not this year.

TRANSPORTATION

High-speed train projects face delay

1/11/2016
Amornrat Mahitthirook

Plans to begin four high-speed train projects this year now will be put off until next year.

The projects are:

1. A 252.5km Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima route under the 179-billion-baht Thai-Chinese joint development;

2. A 382km Bangkok-Phitsanulok rail track under the 224-billion-baht Thai-Japanese venture.

3. And the 193.5km Bangkok-Rayong (153 million baht) and 165km Bangkok-Hua Hin routes (94.6 billion baht).

The delays are mainly due to unfinished studies on the projects.

The projects will still be completed by 2017, Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith says.

DISAGREEMENTS WITH CHINESE

Disagreement over the design of a 3.5km section of track in Nakhon Ratchasima and a draft contract may slow the joint Thai-Chinese rail project.

Bangkok and Beijing had also failed to agree on financial issues, how the railway will be financed, the interest rate and loan terms.

Permanent secretary for transport Phiraphon Thawonsuphacharoen had earlier expressed concern over the joint Thai-Chinese Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima railroad.

3.5 KM 'TRAIN TO NOWHERE' ALSO DELAYED

The 3.5km section, known as the "train to nowhere" was planned for the village of Ban Rai Klang Dong in Nakhon Ratchasima, next to the Chokchai Ranch.

The plan called for construction of the tiny section of railway, simply to show that Thai and Chinese planners had reached agreement.

But they haven't, and even the strange train to nowhere will not get under way in 2016.

In a more positive development, Easy Pass electronic toll cards used on the city's expressways and M-Pass cards used on motorways heading east can be used interchangeably on both networks beginning Tuesday.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1124053/high-speed-train-projects-face-delay

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