Thailand's $7 billion airport rail project off the ground after months of dispute

[snoop1130]

Thailand's $7 billion airport rail project off the ground after months of dispute

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand’s plans for a new $7.4 billion high-speed rail link from Bangkok to the tourist town of Pattaya got the go ahead on Thursday after months of negotiations that spilled over into public acrimony.

 

The Thai government said it had signed an agreement on Thursday to begin construction with a consortium led by conglomerate Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group and including China Railway Construction Corporation (1186.HK) (601186.SS).

 

Some Japanese banks have also agreed to provide part of the financing for the link, which will span 220 kilometres and is scheduled to start operating in 2023.

 

The government approved 119 billion baht for the investment, while the private sector will invest 117 billion baht.

 

After the 50-year project period, all assets will be transferred to the government.

 

Other terms of the agreement were not made public.

 

CP Group and 12 other companies were selected for the project by Thailand’s former military government. They have been in negotiations with state agencies since a new government came to power after elections in March but there have been disputes about land transfers and the distribution of risks.

 

In early October, Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirankul, whose party is in charge of the transport portfolio, set a deadline for signing the agreement to start construction, threatening to blacklist the CP consortium if they failed to so.

 

CP Chairman and Thailand’s richest man, Dhanin Chearavanont, criticized the government’s approach to the project in a dispute with Anutin over the delay in signing the agreement.

 

However, as the deadline closed in CP announced it would sign the agreement a day early on Oct 24.

 

The project will link Bangkok’s main airport Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang airport - another airport in Bangkok used by low-cost carriers - and Pattaya’s U-Tapao airport, enabling trains to travel at up to 250 kilometers per hour, according to the project’s website.

 

“This project will have investments and employment with a total value of more than 200 billion baht,” Anutin wrote on Facebook adding that it would attract more investment to Thailand.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-24

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[holy cow cm]

How on earth can it ever make money back. Quite crazy. 

[Jan Dietz]

No state project is meant to be profitable. If it were it would've been picked up by a private company.

It's meant to improve infrastructure for the public good, and job creation.

 

 

> The high-speed rail is expected to be up and running in 2023. It is estimated to create 16,000 jobs in the construction period and another 100,000 jobs in the next five years.

Edited October 24, 2019 by Jan Dietz

[snoop1130]

CP group seals deal on high-speed airport rail

By THE NATION

 

The CP-led group and the SRT sign the contract for the high speed train project. Seen in the picture are SRT acting governor Worawut Mala, left, front row, and CP group chairman of the executive board Suphachai Chearavanont, right front row. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha presides over the contract signing ceremony.

 

The Charoen Pokphand-led consortium and the State Railway of Thailand today (October 24) signed the contract for the development of a high-speed railway linking three international airports, presided over by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at Government House.

 

The high-speed network will connect Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi in Samut Prakan and U-tapao in Rayong.

 

CP consortium made the lowest bid for the project. Others in the group are Bangkok Expressway and Metro Plc, China Railway Construction Corp, Ch Karnchang Plc and Italian-Thai Development Plc.

 

The Eastern Economic Corridor Policy Committee today also signed a MoU with the SRT in support of the project's development.

 

Suphachai Chearavanont, chairman of CP's executive board said the rail route is 220 kilometre in length and the train can travel at the maximum speed of 250 km per hour.

 

SRT acting governor Worawut Mala said the signing marked another milestone of the country's transportation infrastructure development, which is developed under the Public-Private Partnership Net Cost basis. The project is valued Bt224.544 billion and all asset will be handed back to the state at the end of the 50-year contract.

 

Eastern High-Speed Rail Linking Three Airports Co Ltd, a company set up by the CP consortium for the project, signed the deal with the SRT on its behalf.

 

The high-speed rail is expected to be up and running in 2023. It is estimated to create 16,000 jobs in the construction period and another 100,000 jobs in the next five years.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said, following the signing,that the state agency would now undertake several processes, including train procurement and the hiring of consultants for various tasks.

 

The initial steps in preparation for construction, such as moving public utilities along the route, will take two years, he said.

 

Anutin said he hopes all parties involved would focus on getting the job done and not on gains or losses from the contract.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30377719

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-10-24

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[Cadbury]

41 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

CP Chairman and Thailand’s richest man, Dhanin Chearavanont

Second richest man? But I might be wrong!

 

15 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Anutin said he hopes all parties involved would focus on getting the job done and not on gains or losses from the contract.

Getting the job done is top priority. Price of tickets is already set. Who cares if it doesn't make any money. That is the script as it applies to normal Thai government business. Point for CP Group:

Please take note; there is nothing that makes any money where the SRT is involved. The SRT is a born loser, just like Thai Airways. Good luck anyway.

[kickstart]

19 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Second richest man? But I might be wrong!

 

Getting the job done is top priority. Price of tickets is already set. Who cares if it doesn't make any money. That is the script as it applies to normal Thai government business. Point for CP Group:

Please take note; there is nothing that makes any money where the SRT is involved. The SRT is a born loser, just like Thai Airways. Good luck anyway.

I could be wrong ,but I think they is barely a railway in the world that actually makes a profit? (maybe the Japanese bullet train).

As has been said its a public service ,but how this one will pay for its self I do not know.

But it has to be better than leaving Paddington,London at 10 pm and having to stand for an hour no seats ,because the train due to leave before was canceled ........... due to shotage of staff was stated.  

[trainman34014]

Will be interesting to watch for actual building progress.   Talk and signing documents is all fine and dandy but getting things built is never straightforward here.  Keep the completion date in mind as it is likely to be updated at regular intervals !

[CNXexpat]

They always better forget any planning, because Thais and planning are not the best friends. It would be always easier if they would say: "we build a high speed train, let´s start tomorrow". ????

[thaitero]

Quote

The project will link Bangkok’s main airport Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang airport - another airport in Bangkok used by low-cost carriers - and Pattaya’s U-Tapao airport, enabling trains to travel at up to 250 kilometers per hour, according to the project’s website.

Url to this website ?

[andy72]

time to relocate those bar girls

 

but seriously there is no point whatsoever to link 3 airports in this way 

dmk-bkk ok 

but utp?

 

[Funtom]

1 hour ago, thaitero said:

Url to this website ?

www.cpgroupglobal.com

[thaitero]

1 hour ago, andy72 said:

 

 

but seriously there is no point whatsoever to link 3 airports in this way 

dmk-bkk ok 

but utp?

 

 

UTP now is not same what it is going to be in future.

There are big extension plans for UTP also..

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, andy72 said:

time to relocate those bar girls

 

but seriously there is no point whatsoever to link 3 airports in this way 

dmk-bkk ok 

but utp?

 

Linking Bangkok with the eastern seaboard, what's wrong with that?

 

So many factories, foreign workers, the deep sea port, the EEC, the city of Pattaya, up to to Rayong.  No point in that having a decent connection to Bangkok?

[leeneeds]

A high speed train, 

a high speed build

a high, ever increasing,  speeding debt.

Utopia it is not.

[nattaya09]

It should prove to be quite a profitable project to those well positioned


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[toast1]

>they is barely a railway in the world that actually makes a profit?

Most of the Japanese rail system is privately run, and makes a very good profit, it is also the best in the world.

The UK rail system was all private, and very successful, before the communists took it over.

 

 

 

 

[Cadbury]

7 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

Will be interesting to watch for actual building progress.   Talk and signing documents is all fine and dandy but getting things built is never straightforward here.  Keep the completion date in mind as it is likely to be updated at regular intervals !

Yes indeed! First things first.

Ticket prices (330 bhat max) were set by SRT one year ago so next comes the ground breaking ceremony to be performed by VIP dignatories and assorted envelope recipients. 

After that it's anybody's guess as to what happens, if anything.

More than likely some conflict between the SRT and the CP Group will arise and the whole thing will go belly up just like the Hopewell project. 

Edited October 24, 2019 by Cadbury

[fforest1]

Time to break out the popcorn.....This is going to be fun....We have many years of news stories ahead explaining delays,cost overruns,why ridership projections were off and why unfortunately the 330 ticket price will have to be raised.... 

Edited October 24, 2019 by fforest1

[Estrada]

Not merely months of delay, 30 years ago I advised my friend, a Senator in the Thai Government, to link the 3 airports because it was taking over 3 hours to get to Pattaya. We got as far as a M.O.U. with Siemens, but the Government changed and Don Muang was closed because Suvarnabhumi Airport would be more than capable of handling maximum of 45Million passengers per year! Currently the International Airports are handling over 140Million passengers per year. Don Muang had to be hastily reopened and Utapao Airport has become an International airport for scheduled passengers. The same nay sayers are currently saying that there would not be enough passengers for the 3 Airports High Speed Train. No doubt the same nay sayers who complained that the BTS would never get above 200,000 passenger trips per day. Now they are complaining that there are 800,000 trips per day and the trains are overcrowded at peak hours.  All three airports will be linked by monorail to the Donmuang area, Pattaya and Utapao area.

[Classic Ray]

Will be very interesting to see if this goes ahead. BTS did a lot of research before they submitted their technically superior bid at a realistic price.

 

There will need to be some very clever project management from CP, but at least they can call on their previous experience with train projects such as .........???

[a977]

9 hours ago, andy72 said:

time to relocate those bar girls

 

but seriously there is no point whatsoever to link 3 airports in this way 

dmk-bkk ok 

but utp?

 

Obviously you don't live in Pattaya and have to put up with the s##t fight on highways 7 & 3 

[fire2rescue99]

Does anyone know where the new station for Pattaya will be located specifically? I’ve found references that say it will be in Na Jomtien on CP owned land. CP has wide latitude in deciding what goes with a station, such as a new mall, condos, hotels, e.t.c.

 

I would like to see a detailed map of the high speed train route.

[30la]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Other terms of the agreement were not made public.

Probably all those in favor of CP!

[30la]

14 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

Will be very interesting to see if this goes ahead. BTS did a lot of research before they submitted their technically superior bid at a realistic price.

 

There will need to be some very clever project management from CP, but at least they can call on their previous experience with train projects such as .........???

Sausages....????????????

[FinChin67]

Another confirmation that Chinese run Thailand and this one is cementing the rule further.

[30la]

46 minutes ago, Estrada said:

30 years ago I advised my friend

???

[bristolgeoff]

The bus is cheap takes 2 hrs,most people use it.unless they start from swampy for tourist just arriving 

 

[mikebell]

6 hours ago, nattaya09 said:

It should prove to be quite a profitable project to those well positioned


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Agree; they bought up all the proposed land prior to the agreement.

[British Bulldog]

11 hours ago, kickstart said:

I could be wrong ,but I think they is barely a railway in the world that actually makes a profit? (maybe the Japanese bullet train).

As has been said its a public service ,but how this one will pay for its self I do not know.

But it has to be better than leaving Paddington,London at 10 pm and having to stand for an hour no seats ,because the train due to leave before was canceled ........... due to shotage of staff was stated.  

Correct, most railways around the world do not make much money, but they do save a small fortune in not having to increase road capacity in central cities and bigger wider highways in Country areas, that's where the savings are !

[worgeordie]

I just hope the have all the land along the route sorted out,as this could just turn into another Hopewell,

regards Worgeordie