Bangkok-Korat high speed rail project to break ground in November

[webfact]

Bangkok-Korat high speed rail project to break ground in November

 

 

BANGKOK, 26th September 2017 (NNT) – The Ministry of Transport expects the construction of the first stretch of the Bangkok - Nakhon Ratchasima high speed rail project to commence in November. 

The deputy Transport Ministry's Permanent Secretary said the first stretch of the Bangkok - Nakhon Ratchasima route will be built over 3.5 kilometers. The project will be implemented by the State Railway of Thailand in cooperation with China. 

He said a recent meeting with the Chinese set the starting date for Contract Number 2.1, with civil design scheduled to commence on 9th October 2017, while the first group of Chinese engineers is being trained and tested by the Thai Council of Engineers. 

After the engineers have passed qualification tests and completed their work, they will hand over the legal blueprints and details to the State Railway of Thailand for further work according to the contract. 

The Chinese engineers will have to pass an examination on legal and ethical codes for foreign engineers in Thailand as well as technical details such as the soil conditions, waterways, drainage systems and engineering and environmental safety measures.

 

-- nnt 2017-09-26

 

[JAG]

23 minutes ago, webfact said:

 

The Chinese engineers will have to pass an examination on legal and ethical codes for foreign engineers in Thailand as well as technical details such as the soil conditions, waterways, drainage systems and engineering and environmental safety measures.

 

 

[RotMahKid]

If those are the same standards Thai engineers have, then I am afraid  the high-speed railways will be flushed away with the next flooding or heave rainfall.

[cooked]

So this will, of course, take a lot of freight off the roads and people that at present pay ฿79.- Buriram - Bangkok will be happy to pay...  how much?  White elephants are all the rage in Thailand I hear.

 

[theguyfromanotherforum]

8 minutes ago, RotMahKid said:

If those are the same standards Thai engineers have, then I am afraid  the high-speed railways will be flushed away with the next flooding or heave rainfall.

 

Siemens hires a lot of Thai engineers and the BTS is running just fine.

Edited September 26, 2017 by theguyfromanotherforum

[mike324]

59 minutes ago, webfact said:

The project will be implemented by the State Railway of Thailand in cooperation with China. 

The government can't even get the normal rail to run and maintained properly as they are heavily in debt, pursuing a high speed rail is kind of silly if SRT are the ones managing it themselves.

 

11 minutes ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

Siemens hires a lot of Thai engineers and the BTS is running just fine.

Yes but the BTS is not run and managed by the government. Thats the main difference, so if the SRT is managing it, it will not run fine. Just take a look at the airport link, also managed by the SRT and are already years behind maintenance schedule because they don't have money. Even the SRT are admitting that they are not maintaining it.

[mikebell]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

rail project to break ground in November

Prayuth to break wind on Friday.

[Crossy]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

route will be built over 3.5 kilometers

This is NOT a typo!

[korkenzieher]

Breaking ground? Have you left from HuaLampong recently - all that infrastructure to the north is *not* designed for carrying roads! Ground was broken months, if not years ago. Political considerations...

[leeneeds]

 looking forward to  completion date and will  use the service, on a regular basis,

 

[Cadbury]

4 hours ago, JAG said:

The Chinese engineers will have to pass an examination on legal and ethical codes for foreign engineers in Thailand as well as technical details such as the soil conditions, waterways, drainage systems and engineering and environmental safety measures.

 

 

Chinese high speed rail engineers being given certification by Thai slow speed rail engineers. Good bet the cost of the certification certificate will not be cheap.

[ehs818]

I just returned form a holiday in China on Saturday. Took a high speed train from Guangzhou to Guilin, about a 90 ride, price unknown as my friend paid for it and would not tell me. But it had to be about 150 RMB, or 750 baht. Cheaper than a plane, but much more than a bus. Can't see that many Thai ppl will opt for it. You don't  have to sit down while it takes off or lands, you can't eat on the train, but there are places to charge your phones. Overall quite nice, but for everyday Thais I'm not so sure it'll succeed. Hope it does.

[Godang]

1 hour ago, leeneeds said:

 looking forward to  completion date and will  use the service, on a regular basis,

 

It is only for Prayut to use. That is why it has been pushed forward. Money would be better spent on bringing the other railway  up to date.

[ratcatcher]

5 hours ago, cooked said:

So this will, of course, take a lot of freight off the roads and people that at present pay ฿79.- Buriram - Bangkok will be happy to pay...  how much?  White elephants are all the rage in Thailand I hear.

 

"So this will, of course, take a lot of freight off the roads."

This HST is for passengers, people, not freight.

Trucks will still use the highways until a proper rail freight system is organized amid the screams of the trucking industry,

[cooked]

"So this will, of course, take a lot of freight off the roads."

This HST is for passengers, people, not freight.

Trucks will still use the highways until a proper rail freight system is organized amid the screams of the trucking industry,

Mm.. It was a joke?


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[ratcatcher]

3 minutes ago, cooked said:

Mm.. It was a joke?
Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Agreed, on second look. Subtle sarcasm indeed.

[hansnl]

1 hour ago, Godang said:

It is only for Prayut to use. That is why it has been pushed forward. Money would be better spent on bringing the other railway  up to date.

The only reason those high speed rail lines will be built, eventually, are Chinese tactical reasons.

Not for profit, not for the countries the Chinese built train, with Chinese staff, on Chinese built lines will run through, but to have venues to transport military goods, material and staff fast from China all over Asia.

[prism]

4 hours ago, ehs818 said:

I just returned form a holiday in China on Saturday. Took a high speed train from Guangzhou to Guilin, about a 90 ride, price unknown as my friend paid for it and would not tell me. But it had to be about 150 RMB, or 750 baht. Cheaper than a plane, but much more than a bus. Can't see that many Thai ppl will opt for it. You don't  have to sit down while it takes off or lands, you can't eat on the train, but there are places to charge your phones. Overall quite nice, but for everyday Thais I'm not so sure it'll succeed. Hope it does.

The motorway between Bangkok and Korat is very congested and getting worse. On weekends and holidays , the commute by car or bus can take several hours. Korat has an airport, but it's inconveniently located and nobody flies there last time I checked. I think the Thais will use it if it's priced right, say around 300 - 400 baht. It's a lot further than 3.5 kilometers though.    

[Dave67]

That would be called A TEST TRACK

[Chongalulu]

15 hours ago, prism said:

The motorway between Bangkok and Korat is very congested and getting worse. On weekends and holidays , the commute by car or bus can take several hours. Korat has an airport, but it's inconveniently located and nobody flies there last time I checked. I think the Thais will use it if it's priced right, say around 300 - 400 baht. It's a lot further than 3.5 kilometers though.    

The most expensive ticket I can get is still under 200 baht and would happily pay double but would Thais that buy even cheaper tickets- I don't know what the cheapest ones are- ?  But yes,it's a horrible journey by road when busy.

[JAG]

19 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

"So this will, of course, take a lot of freight off the roads."

This HST is for passengers, people, not freight.

Trucks will still use the highways until a proper rail freight system is organized amid the screams of the trucking industry,

 

Perhaps before imagining a proper railway freight system one should consider who the big movers and shakers in the long-distance road haulage system are?

 

Now I don't know who they are, but I would imagine that they will be remarkably good people, who have considerable influence....

[worgeordie]

3.5 Km track, High speed train,they are going to get fed up with it

when it keeps flying off end of the track.

regards worgeordie

[Dave67]

4 hours ago, worgeordie said:

3.5 Km track, High speed train,they are going to get fed up with it

when it keeps flying off end of the track.

regards worgeordie

 

Edited September 27, 2017 by Dave67

[ChouDoufu]

if this is part of the belt-n-road line from kunming thru

laos to korat- bangkok, and then on to singapore, a

recent thread indicated it would be a combined passenger

freight line.  but not true high speed, which i believe

would be 250 kmh+.  this line will be 180 for passengers

and 120 for freight.

 

so thailand is paying a huge amount, paid for with a

loan from china (what interest rate?), with various

government assets as collateral.....and getting a

mediocre product that only looks high speed, and

will probably be unaffordable to most ordinary

thais who will continue to take nakhon air for 189

baht.

 

this is part of xi's master plan linking

china to singapore by rail.  china needs this more

than thailand does.  would think thailand could

have gotten a much better deal.  otherwise china

would have to route thu....oh, no alternative.

Edited September 27, 2017 by ChouDoufu

[Thian]

On 9/26/2017 at 1:01 PM, leeneeds said:

 looking forward to  completion date and will  use the service, on a regular basis,

 

What will you go doing in Korat? We dont know...

[Dave67]

As someone mentioned how the F can you test a high speed train on 3.5km Test track? I'm working on a metro at the moment and our test track is 5km and that's for 80kph. The test track we built in China which became part of the network for high speed rail was 20km long