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

[steven100]

Another example of the current government's commitment to building infrastructure and job creating.

Well done Khun Prayut Chan O Cha …  

[newnative]

1 hour ago, a977 said:

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

    I live in Pattaya and I can't see my partner and I ever using the train.  When we go to Bangkok we either drive to have our car to use, book Bell Travel, which picks us up at our door, or sometimes use the airport shuttle.  Using just the train round trip would cost 1,320 baht for both of us if the fare is 330 baht--more if it increases.  Add to that the cost of using a taxi or some other transport to get us to and from the train station out in the boonies each trip.  But, more than the cost, the biggest sticking point is it just doesn't seem very easy or convenient unless they come up with a fast and cheap way to get to and from the Pattaya station into Pattaya and Jomtien.

[miamiman123]

Finish 2023??? Uuumh the BTS Bangwa link was a 2 year deadline....just finished 2019 

that was 7 years +
ha! 

[RichardColeman]

Going to be quite a conundrum for most of us - risk a perilous taxi ride on the motorway, or risk a pitfall crossing on the railway

[mickey rat]

13 hours ago, Cadbury said:

Point for CP Group:

Please take note; there is nothing that makes any money where the SRT is involved

No actually, there is big money to be made in every government project for the well connected. A contract this size is worth a fortune regardless of if it's "successful" or not.  

[pegman]

2 hours 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 .........???

Do you think the 2nd largest construction company in the world, one of the 12 project partners, could pick up some of the slack? Here is a 1300km hi-speed rail project they completed in 3 years. It carries 180m passengers a year. 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing–Shanghai_high-speed_railway

 

I'm 3rd generation rail worker, nearly 100 continuos years between us, , and I think this contractor is just amazing.

 

 

[brucec64]

3 hours ago, fforest1 said:

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.... 

330 ticket price - the exact amount the Pattaya taxi mafia will charge for the last 2km from the station to home...

 

 

[Cadbury]

7 minutes ago, pegman said:

Do you think the 2nd largest construction company in the world, one of the 12 project partners, could pick up some of the slack? Here is a 1300km hi-speed rail project they completed in 3 years. It carries 180m passengers a year. 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing–Shanghai_high-speed_railway

I don't think anyone for one minute would question the ability of of the Chinese partners in this consortium to build HS train systems.

However the big risk is they will be dragged back to to the same level of incompetence by their Thai partners the State Rail Authority of Thailand (SRT). Just like that other highly respected HK/Chinese construction company Hopewell Holdings Limited. 

[johng]

14 minutes ago, pegman said:

Do you think the 2nd largest construction company in the world, one of the 12 project partners, could pick up some of the slack? Here is a 1300km hi-speed rail project they completed in 3 years. It carries 180m passengers a year. 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing–Shanghai_high-speed_railway

The numbers are quite incredible..I'm having a hard time believing they built a 1300KM railway in 3 years including 244 bridges one of which is the longest in the world ?????  

 

Quote

1,140 km, or 87% of the railway is elevated. There are 244 bridges along the line. The 164-km long Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge is the longest bridge in the world,^[17] the 114-km long viaduct bridge between Langfang and Qingxian is the second longest in the world, and the Cangde Grand Bridge between Beijing's 4th Ring Road and Langfang is the fifth longest. The line also includes 22 tunnels, totaling 16.1 km (10.0 mi). A total of 1,268 km (788 mi)of the length is ballastless.

 

[pegman]

37 minutes ago, miamiman123 said:

Finish 2023??? Uuumh the BTS Bangwa link was a 2 year deadline....just finished 2019 

that was 7 years +
ha! 

Re-read the OP. A Chinese construction company that has built 40,000km of rail line and 10,000km of tunnels is one of the partners. I would think it will be building the Loa-Bangkok-Singapore hi-speed rail line too. 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railway_Construction_Corporation_Limited

[Jimbo53]

11 hours ago, thaitero said:

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

There are big extension plans for UTP 

 

12 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?

 

Any shuttle between any Airports are good! That's the point! For anyone that travels frequently!

[Darkside Gray]

I cannot understand the logic in linking these 3 airports, where are people going and why, Pattaya station to Bangkok airports yes but Utp?

 

[Jimbo53]

8 hours ago, leeneeds said:

A high speed train, 

a high speed build

a high, ever increasing,  speeding debt.

Utopia it is not.

But Utapao it is! ????

[josephbloggs]

5 minutes ago, Darkside Gray said:

I cannot understand the logic in linking these 3 airports, where are people going and why, Pattaya station to Bangkok airports yes but Utp?

 

I cannot understand why you cannot understand it.

You build a rail link between two Bangkok airports and go up to Pattaya.  Why would you not then go the extra bit to connect up to U-Tapao, especially given the rapid expansion it is undergoing?  I could just imagine the same bitter brigade on here having a right old mouth froth if the "shortsighted Thais" built a rail link from DMK, BKK and all the way to Pattaya and neglected to also connect up to the nearby U-Tapao.

[Cadbury]

13 minutes ago, Darkside Gray said:

I cannot understand the logic in linking these 3 airports, where are people going and why, Pattaya station to Bangkok airports yes but Utp?

 

Where people are going to and coming from and how many of them there are is immaterial.

The simple explanation is that it is part of Khun Prayut Chan-o-cha's Alice in Wonderland dream of the Eastern Economic Corridor. 

In his hazy daze of junta rule he invoked Article 44 three times to remove environmental and other obstacles preventing the conception of this EEC baby. 

[hotchilli]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

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.

They will inherit the losses too or will they start another lengthy court battle?

[ChipButty]

7//11's at every stop 

[Jimbo53]

35 minutes ago, pegman said:

Do you think the 2nd largest construction company in the world, one of the 12 project partners, could pick up some of the slack? Here is a 1300km hi-speed rail project they completed in 3 years. It carries 180m passengers a year. 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing–Shanghai_high-speed_railway

 

I'm 3rd generation rail worker, nearly 100 continuos years between us, , and I think this contractor is just amazing.

 

 

Wait until you see how long it takes to build this Project to completion...a slight comparison....The underpass on Sukhumvit Rd in Pattaya for about 1 kilometre took how long???....there will be a lot of Millionaires made out of this one...T.I.T.

[newatthis]

 

Those in the back row are full of glee and anticipation now.

 

[ginjag]

Will there be a local bus service from the station, to Nth, central and Sth Pattaya, Or the same over priced mini vans and taxis with the owner being in on the act.

[pegman]

11 minutes ago, Jimbo53 said:

Wait until you see how long it takes to build this Project to completion...a slight comparison....The underpass on Sukhumvit Rd in Pattaya for about 1 kilometre took how long???....there will be a lot of Millionaires made out of this one...T.I.T.

I use to have a live in Lao girlfriend from backwoods Savannakhet. It's about a century behind Thailand and likely more corrupt. The Chinese have worked things out there including training local workers.

 

Kamnan Poh now has a son as Pattaya mayor and another as a federal minister so I'm sure he has been taken care of and will ensure work goes smoothly.

[justin case]

in most countries, link between different airports were made long ago and FREE

 

TIT

[justin case]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

CP Chairman and Thailand’s richest man

isn't that the one who cannot be spoken off ?

[AmericanSafety]

Tourism is way down due to the strength of the baht and xenophobic policies of the military government, but let’s continue with a high speed rail to create a rapid transit system to move falangs that are not coming. 

[todlad]

14 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.  

Since you asked, here are the top five railway companies by sales revenue:

 

Deutsche Bahn (Germany) Revenues $51.14 billion Profit $900 million

SNCF (France) Revenues $40.12 billion Profit $660 million

JSC Russian Railways Revenues $38.6 billion Profit 2.39 billion

Indian Railways Revenues $296 billion Profit 870 million

East Japan Railway Company Revenues $27.76 billion Profit $2.08 billion

 

Because of exchange rate differences and because of a lack of clarity in one or two numbers, you might find different answers from the above if you do your own digging.

 

If it is interesting, I started here https://www.railway-technology.com/features/worlds-biggest-railway-operators-2018/ and on that page you will also find the Central Japan and the West Japan Railway companies! with combined Revenues of $31.3 billion. There are more Japanese companies and that might be true of other countries.

 

[fforest1]

I found this photo of Thailands new high speed train.....This should quiet down all you doubters.....

 

[Huckenfell]

15 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

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

This might be a couple  or so years too late.

[Huckenfell]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

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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I wonder what the .544 billion will be spent on ??

[Huckenfell]

What about a high speed car ferry across the gulf from West to East.

 

[Huckenfell]

If they keep messing about with Visas, there won't be anybody going to Pattaya to pay for it, except for gangs of Flag following Chinese and Indians who will want to share the ticket fare.