lapd

Put adblock on your tool bar use the adblock option. Then selectively unblock site by site as you visit them and continue to block others.

Adblock sucks. I was using it for years until I discovered it was the cause of crashes when I would routinely have many tabs opened.

uBlock fixed all that.

https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm?hl=en

No life jackets!

So many whiners here. Really unbelievable that someone would choose to move to another country and then sit in front of their computers in their concrete box whining about it.

Really ruins this board imho. There is nothing of value that these serial whiners contribute to the discussion.

A new Thai constitution being drafted by the ruling junta is a throwback to an era when a royalist and military elite had a stranglehold on politics, analysts and politicians say, warning of dire consequences for democracy.

To all the junta lovers/ anti election posters here, please read the above twice and reconsider your support to the Thai elite!!

Your are supporting people and a system belonging in a long gone century!!

And cut your "but Yingluck" BS.

Thanks for the suggestion. After following your advice I have concluded that Thailand is much better off with the Junta. The politicians are just upset that this makes it much harder for them to get their hands in the cookie jar.

So thanks for setting me straight.

Now I have some advice for you. Read this sentence from that article over and over again.

""Thai political parties are different to other countries'... they can be bought,"

I was never a fan of Yingluck but I always thought she was just a Thaskin puppet anyways. She is not smart enough to have come up with this scheme herself. I think she was just going along with Thaskins former advisors and assuming they knew what they were doing. They probably did know what they were doing but not in the way she though.

This article has summed up 90% of the sad acts on this forum.

Yup, pretty much. That is probably why it was written.

If he was up country he probably would have been shot. Thais aren't that tolerant of foreigners away from the main tourist areas.

Maybe a juice monkey overdoing it on the steroids then mixing alcohol.

The bright side is that everyone is a wonderful person after they are dead. You never hear someone say...he was an ahole...good riddance. Apparently only wonderful nice people die.

Not trying to make light of this but.....what ever happened to people offing themselves the old fashioned way? Inside a garage with a running car. Pills. Why do so many join the Thailand Diving team instead?

To all the libertarians out there....this is why there are regulations and enforcement. They come to Thailand because there are less of both of those things.

You cannot change basic human nature. Greed, fear and people willing to take advantage of that will always exist no matter what.

What are they burning?

Why are there so many people here who presumably have 'chosen' to live in Thailand yet all they want to do is talking about how [insert any topic] about Thailand will never work because Thailand sucks?

If it was fast enough and cheap enough and convenient enough it would probably get me to go to Hua Hin once in awhile. They can't seem to get the right combination of those 3 things though.

Pattaya and Hua Hin have grown quite a bit since the last time they tried this. Maybe worth another try. Probably the biggest expense would be proper terminals on either end. That is the only way I could see this working. Not some half baked ferry dock floating on oil drums or whatever. Maybe if they made the terminals capable of handling cruise ships as well that could make it more viable.

Once again, like the ridiculous Pattaya tunnel project, money is being carelessly spent when it could be put to much better uses. Not just tourists come to Pattaya. Many Bangkok residents come to the beach and they come mostly by car or van. Lots of tourists come in tour groups and they come by bus. The money would have been better spent to improve the roads--including a 21st century toll system that does not involve traffic stopping every few miles. Truck traffic could be segregated on separate lanes. The airport bus works pretty well for tourists but could be improved with newer buses, better bus stations, more frequent runs, etc.

First I'm hearing about the tunnel project back on again. That's good news. That area is a big bottleneck right now. A lot of growth on the other side of sukhumvit so it's only going to get worse if they don't do it. If high speed rail goes through the station will be on the other side of sukhumvit so all the more reason to do it.

Asians love the idea of high speed trains. I think the Thai gov'ts see it as a statement that they are becoming a first world country. I think just about everything they do is all about trying to show that they are not a poor 3rd world country.

Really? Do you think tourist will fly to Thailand in large numbers just to ride a fast train?

If it gets them to Pattaya or Bkk or Hua Hin faster then yes, ABSOLUTELY. No traffic jams either.

Lot's of tourists take the express rail link and lots of people will take this. It's not just for tourists btw. Connecting U-Tapao to Suvarnabumi is a big one and Rayong is a working town.

I would much rather pay more and get there faster then go barreling down a road in a tin can corolla taxi or whatever. Good chance the driver hasn't slept in more than 15hours. Good chance the car isn't properly maintained. Then you go flying down the road where there are lots of big slow moving transports and chances are they are not properly maintained and the drivers not well rested. No thanks.

BKK-Pattaya-Rayong route will run alongside the existing Airport Rail Link...

This is the part I don't get. The Rail Link is fairly recent and they had planned for the possibility of extending it to Rayong when they built it. Why put up an entirely new link right beside it? Why not just extend the Rail Link and save billions? I'm guessing that the Rail link is probably not capable of going as fast as they want...but at what additional cost? The express is plenty fast going between the airport and downtown. They could probably make it go even faster.

We need to clarify what they mean by "high speed train", anything over walking pace is high speed to many in Thailand.

They cannot be talking about real high speed trains as they need regular quality maintenance to keep the system safe, otherwise we will be reading about some exciting train crashes.

Malaysia's newish electric train system could serve as a model.

While not truly "high speed", they are plenty quick at averaging 140 kph (which is a heck of lot faster than currently).

Clean, quiet, convenient and comfortable, the shorter runs to Pattaya and Hua Hin would be ideal for them. It would alleviate a lot of the unnecessary taxis and traffic on the highways.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Train_Service

Precisely. And what some nay sayers are missing is that a rail link would make Pattaya et al

suburbs of Bangkok, and alleviate some of pressure on the city - a lot of people would leave

Bangkok if they could!

If the line is going to Rayong that could mean a stop at or near U-Tapao which would that airport more viable as well.

They could start a "Monger Investment Lifestyle Fund" - <deleted> for short - whereby Pattaya residents could invest in the high speed rail line from the airport to Walking Street in 30 minutes.

...in reality it would probably be the most successful rail network in Thailand.

Yes, hopefully the government can look realistically at this and acknowledge that the mongers are the most faithful and generous tourists in the world (and I understand that what you're doing is bashing Pattaya, which makes you as unique and interesting as a cockroach on TV) . Time for Pattaya to focus on what it does best and forget about family/group tourism (and I'm saying this as a long time Pattaya resident). I mean, at the end of the day, how much money does the average Chinese or Indian tourist spend per day compared to a dyed-in-the-wool monger??

However, I do believe as many posters that stated before me that a high-speed rail link will probably not be economical. They should instead focus on improving existing transport options, like more airport shuttle buses and non-rip off taxis.

Are they even looking at just extending the Airport rail link? If not then why? That seems like the best option all around if you ask me. The express train goes plenty fast, is already part way there, and most trips will probably be going to/from the airport anyways. They could probably even increase the speed between the Airport and Pattaya if they can make the tracks straight enough. No brand new system to have to work the bugs out of either.

I know there are current issues with the Airport rail link but they will eventually get that sorted out. One less bug that would come up if they extended it. Reading up on the history it appears that they did plan to extend it out to Pattaya and Rayong at one time during the initial planning.

I can see the attraction of a high speed train OUT of Pattaya.

Judging by your handle it seems you are a Bangkok fan. Why don't you stick to that forum if you have nothing to contribute? I think Bangkok is an armpit and consequently never post in the Bangkok forum because it just doesn't interest me. But it does seem like Pattaya holds an endless fascination for you haters. Maybe it's a love and hate relationship; You would love to go there but hate the fact that your wives (and/or your wallets) won't allow it.

The Pattaya haters (who seem to spend a lot of time there) are curious sorts. I think what they really hate is their own situations. They won't be happy no matter where they are. Pattaya is just a convenient scapegoat.

To all the usual doomsayers. A simple reminder. You were all saying the EXACT same things about skytrain, the subway, and the Airport rail link. Too expensive, nobody will use it, they are too dumb to do it right, they won't maintain it and everyone will die and then they will sell it for scrap blah blah yada yada.

Every time you were WRONG. EVERY TIME! YOU ARE ALL WRONG NOW. 100% guaranteed. That is if and when they actually get around to building it. That is the only thing that is still up in the air.

I'm not saying there won't be major problems, no cost overruns, no corruption or political controversy, maintenance problems that will need to be addressed, maybe lack of ridership initially before people get used to it, some pricing adjustments, the occasional "only in Thailand" type screw up and whatever. There is with every big expensive project even in the first world sometimes.

Oh well, All Thai Visa seems to be now a days is one giant whine fest untethered from logic and reason.

We already have trains from Bangkok to Hua Hin ( 43 baht ) & Bangkok to Pattaya ( 31 baht ) and all nicely and easily linked to the Airport. Why do we need " high speed trains " maybe it's me but i seem to be the only person left in this world that has never been in a rush to do anything! ( " cha cha " viewers.... )

F.J

....you call one snail class train a day at like 6am that takes at least twice as long as a vehicle an alternative to high speed rail? Been going to Pattaya for years and not once have I seen that train as a viable alternative to anything. Could probably get to Bkk faster and more conveniently on a scooter rental.

Oh wait but it's cheap. That's all that counts I guess. Who cares about......well everything else basically.

Why not shoot a line up to Mukdahan while you're at it.............make it a bit easier for the visa runners.

Nong Khai is already in the planning stages, and it the train goes all the way to China (that is the master plan, no?), it will pass through Vientianne. Mukdahan is a bit out of the way. What can you do in Mukdahan that you cannot do in Vientianne?

How is that possible? There is a mountain range in the way. It is called Laos.

Easy on those common sense facts...you might cause a few headaches around here.

Estimated construction costs for Bangkok – Pattaya: 100.000.000.000 Baht (100bn)

before servicing, maintenance and operating costs.

Estimated fare, let say 1.000 Baht per Person

= 100.000.000 (100 Million) necessary Passengers, only to win back the cost of construction.

Pattaya estimated visitors per year: around 7 Million.

Lets say the train can attract 30% of all visitors for a single journey, is then 2 Millions

2.000.000 passengers / 360 days = 5.500 passengers a day.

So the construction cost recovery period would then 50 yeas without interest, before servicing, maintenance and operating costs.

Travel alternatives and market conditions:

- from the airport you can get a taxi for 2000 Baht to Pattaya, if 2 or more travelling together, the taxi is cheaper.

Furthermore you do not have to go to the train station and have to wait for the departure of the train.

The time advantage of the train can already be lost here.

- Many bus and minivan companies have fare prices between 200-500 baht.

There are already many pick-up / start points. Mo Chit, Sai Tai, Ekamai, Victory Monoment,

Khao San, etc. Also here the journey to the departure station can be a deciding factor.

- Many Pattaya visitors are weekend visitors and travel with there own cars,

usually several people together in one car, it is cheaper and much more flexible.

Just this simple observation makes it hard for me, to see here a return on investment.

Where did you get those numbers from? You realize that with cost of labor these things are much cheaper to build in Thailand than in the first world right?

People were going on and on about how the Airport link would be a failure because...numbers...just like they were going on and on about Skytrain. They continue to be wrong every time.