Thailand hopes to have bullet trains running by 2023

David Luekens, CNN 

 

FILE Photo

 

Bangkok (CNN) — After years of delays and much debate, it's finally happening. Bullet trains are coming to Thailand.

 

With one project under construction, another approved and others being considered, many in the country are questioning whether high-speed rail (HSR) will be the right fit for the country.

 

"This is going to be a big change for Thailand," says Thanet Sorat, an adviser to Thailand's Senate Committee on Transportation, vice president of shipping company, V-Serve, and president of the Thai Authorized Customs Brokers Association. He hopes to see sleek trains pinballing around the country at 155 mph (250 kph) within five years.

 

Both projects currently in the works will employ Chinese HSR technology. Though Thailand declined Chinese loans, the projects are considered a part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a plan that aims to connect China to the rest of Asia through new transport infrastructure.

 

Full story: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/thailand-bullet-trains/index.html

 

-- © Copyright CNN 2019-11-18

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this is only possible if the order has been made to 'Hornby' already.

if ever there was a more  unnecessary train needed in Thailand its  this, what they need is a  slower countrywide  good service thats AFFORDABLE

They will have to make crossings safer as cars are always sneaking thru

I really hope there above the roads....Imagine a level crossing!! <deleted>n Carnage!!

1 hour ago, jastheace said:

this is only possible if the order has been made to 'Hornby' already.

That will go straight over the head of the folks who aren't Australian or English!

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Thailand hopes to have bullet trains running by 2023

given the general state of (in)competence here, more like 2032

In reference to this Subject line -"Thailand hopes to have bullet trains running by 2023"......

You can "hope" in one hand and take a dump in the other and see which one is filled more quickly.

 

It's do able....but!   Continuing the service for many years into the future is the problem.  The rolling stock needs frequent intensive maintenance.  And saving a few baht on cheap concrete and cheaper steel rails is going to be a problem if there is insufficient quality control during construction.   And then there is the ongoing lose that will accumulate year on year.  It's been shown to be unlikely to break even or make a profit.  I guess the taxpayer will bear the burden of annual loses!

18 minutes ago, Grumpy John said:

It's do able....but!   Continuing the service for many years into the future is the problem.  The rolling stock needs frequent intensive maintenance.  And saving a few baht on cheap concrete and cheaper steel rails is going to be a problem if there is insufficient quality control during construction.   And then there is the ongoing lose that will accumulate year on year.  It's been shown to be unlikely to break even or make a profit.  I guess the taxpayer will bear the burden of annual loses!

"I guess the taxpayer will bear the burden of annual loses!".... that's always the case but the politician who came up with the idea to fund the project in the first place will be elected again and again and keep coming up with more and more things for the taxpayer to fund. It happens in all countries.

 

 

Would you really be able to relax on one of these things going at 155 mph driven by a Thai person?

3 years nice and which month?

A post in which the quoted post had been altered has been removed:

 

2. Please do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes or wording. Such posts will be deleted and the user warned.

30 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

given the general state of (in)competence here, more like 2032

Really, maybe 3023. The ticket price will hurt.

9 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Would you really be able to relax on one of these things going at 155 mph driven by a Thai person?

So you can't relax on Thai aircraft?

 

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand hopes to have bullet trains running by 2023

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

"This is going to be a big change for Thailand," says Thanet Sorat, an adviser to Thailand's Senate Committee on Transportation, vice president of shipping company, V-Serve, and president of the Thai Authorized Customs Brokers Association. He hopes to see sleek trains pinballing around the country at 155 mph (250 kph) within five years.

Ha ha ha! "He hopes to see sleek trains pinballing around the country at 155 mph (250 kph) within five years."

He's behind the times. Didn't he know the hi-speed train will be up and running in a year's time?

 

22 December 2017:

"THE government has set a new target to call for construction bids for the Bt179-billion, 252-kilometre Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima high-speed railway by the end of next year, according to Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittay-apaisith.

Arkhom said a total of 13 construction contracts for the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima route would be open for bidding in 2018 so that construction could be completed and the system become operational in 2021."

 

source: https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1016957-construction-bids-for-high-speed-train-project-in-coordination-with-china-to-be-completed-in-2018/   

 

 

1 hour ago, BigT73 said:

They will have to make crossings safer as cars are always sneaking thru

True bullet trains have NO level crossings... 

22 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

given the general state of (in)competence here, more like 2032

We have been constructing sky trains and underground trains in Thailand, which have been in service since 1999. We completed them on time and will continue to do so. The nay sayers said that the BTS would never be profitable and no one would ride them. Today the same armchair experts are complaining that there are too many passengers using the trains and we need more trains. BTS is making record profits and still the passenger numbers increase. The armchair experts also said that we did not need the low cost domestic airlines because the public could not afford them. Now they are  complaining that Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi cannot handle the huge increase in passenger numbers. The 3-airports high speed rail system to Pattaya will be completed by 2023 using many of the experienced Thai, Chinese and Ex-pat engineers that have been building the Mass Transit system here for many years already. If the Chinese were to build it they could finish this short length of HSR even quicker. The fare cost to Pattaya is not much more than the cost of the baht bus to take you up the hill from the bus station currently. There will be a mono-rail or tram to take passengers from the Pattaya HSR to the main resorts in the central Pattaya.

20 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Would you really be able to relax on one of these things going at 155 mph driven by a Thai person?

That's a rhetorical question of course.

2 hours ago, jastheace said:

this is only possible if the order has been made to 'Hornby' already.

or triang !!!

2 minutes ago, essox essox said:

or triang !!!

It's nowhere near Trang.

(sorry!)

"Better never than late"

1 hour ago, Grumpy John said:

That will go straight over the head of the folks who aren't Australian or English!

Lionel for Americans

We have too much traffic related deaths already. With these high speed trains and a crippled car park and hard to take train rail crossings there will be increased casualties at the same high speed...

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand hopes to have bullet trains running by 2023

And run they will. Into lots of trouble.

The title of this article is incorrect, actually these will not be bullet trains, only High Speed Trains running at lower speeds (160km/hr Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi Airport and 250km/hr onwards to U-Tapao). Bullet trains run at speeds in excess of 320km/hr. It should be noted that in the UK we were running high speed steam trains with a top speed of 203km/hr in 1938. I worked on the design of what became the Intercity 225 which runs at 225km/hr. None of these can be called bullet trains either. In the UK, only the Eurostar trains which run at speeds up to 320km/hr can be considered to be bullet trains.

21 minutes ago, Estrada said:

We have been constructing sky trains and underground trains in Thailand, which have been in service since 1999. We completed them on time and will continue to do so. The nay sayers said that the BTS would never be profitable and no one would ride them. Today the same armchair experts are complaining that there are too many passengers using the trains and we need more trains. BTS is making record profits and still the passenger numbers increase. The armchair experts also said that we did not need the low cost domestic airlines because the public could not afford them. Now they are  complaining that Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi cannot handle the huge increase in passenger numbers. The 3-airports high speed rail system to Pattaya will be completed by 2023 using many of the experienced Thai, Chinese and Ex-pat engineers that have been building the Mass Transit system here for many years already. If the Chinese were to build it they could finish this short length of HSR even quicker. The fare cost to Pattaya is not much more than the cost of the baht bus to take you up the hill from the bus station currently. There will be a mono-rail or tram to take passengers from the Pattaya HSR to the main resorts in the central Pattaya.

It took until post #18 before a sensible, positive response was produced. Thanks @Estrada

"Taking into account the benefits arising from the HSR, such as passengers' time savings on travel," she went on, "the economic case in favor of doing the project is still outweighed by its financial losses. This line is mostly influenced by China," says Jittichai Rudjanakanoknad of Chulalongkorn University's Department of Civil Engineering. "If Thailand builds it, we might not get much benefit. But if we don't build it, we could lose other benefits from China. That is what the government is thinking."

 

How on earth could a Thai, with an education, say that Thailand would not get much benefit from a high speed railway? It is mind boggling, the degree of ignorance, enshrined within that statement. A high speed rail is necessary for the nation to join the ranks of highly developed nations. Of course, I am not including the US, which has an eroding infrastructure system, that is now well behind much of the developed world. 

4 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

It took until post #18 before a sensible, positive response was produced. Thanks @Estrada

Yep, and only until post number three until the first muppet made the level crossing "gag".  And then that was repeated several times, as it is in any and every single thread about high speed trains.  

It doesn't half get boring.

Edited November 18, 20196 yr by josephbloggs

2 hours ago, Worldplus said:

I really hope there above the roads....Imagine a level crossing!! <deleted>n Carnage!!

It will be elevated all the way, so no problem with crossings