Thailand to China high speed rail dreams get a step closer to reality - more committees set up

[webfact]

Picture: Daily News

 

Thailand's transport minister Saksayam Chidchob spoke after the latest round of Zoom consultations between the governments of Thailand and China, reported Daily News.

 

The overall plan is to have a high speed rail link that will connect Bangkok to China via Laos.

 

With the three airport rail link to the easter seaboard as part of the much vaunted EEC (eastern economic corridor) plan China could be a couple of connections away to Pattaya. 

 

At the moment while the airports line is progressing slowly, the line from Bangkok to Nong Khai in the north east is split up into different phases.

 

Phase 1 from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima (about 250kms by road) is progressing, said the minister with 14 separate contracts. 

 

One has been completed with six in progress now building, three in the planning stage and 4 up for tender. 

 

Phase 2 is from Nakhon Ratchasima to Nong Khai and is in the study and planning stage. 

 

Meetings will be taking place in June on how the line might cross the border into Laos connecting Nong Khai and Vientiane, the capital of Thailand's neighbor.

 

Saksayam announced the establishment of three new committees to work on the project and how it might link up to the EEC plan. 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-05-28

 

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[mr_lob]

Build a wall and make China pay! Betterrrrr

[seajae]

setting up 3 committees to work out  the fast rail system appears to be a trough for the govts sycophants, friends and families, what a total waste of time and money

Edited May 28, 2021 by seajae

[Phuketshrew]

25 minutes ago, mr_lob said:

Build a wall and make China pay! Betterrrrr

Don't the Chinese already have a wall?

[Henryford]

The Merc dealers will be opening the champagne.

[overherebc]

13 minutes ago, Phuketshrew said:

Don't the Chinese already have a wall?

 

In Ilford UK they do.

[3MagicBeers]

The entire Lao link from the Boten border to Vientiane is 95% complete, due to open in December this year.

[Phuketshrew]

5 minutes ago, overherebc said:

n Ilford UK they do.

Yes we have one in Shawbury too ... 

 

[grandpa]

If all the members of the committees that have been set up over the years to plan this, were laid end to end , they would probably easily reach China, and if the rails were then laid on top of them, I am sure it would make for a very smooth ride!  What a total waste of money!

[Excel]

37 minutes ago, 3MagicBeers said:

The entire Lao link from the Boten border to Vientiane is 95% complete, due to open in December this year.

Is that standard gauge ?

[EricTh]

Do you guys think that all the countries bordering China in SEA (Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand) might become provinces of China  someday?

Edited May 28, 2021 by EricTh

[RafPinto]

Will take a while due flight restrictions.

It's more difficult to open Swiss bank accounts online. 

Once restrictions gone, they can fly, open account, come back, finalise committee, take the ...... and start building;

[MasterBaker]

more committees set up... yes, that's how you do it!

[klauskunkel]

All aboard! Next stop: Krystal Club

 

[Heng]

If anyone can do it, China can.   And we all know Thailand has a price, it's just a question of how much.   

[AnnieSeek]

Oh great ... more condos coming to Bangkok. 

[overherebc]

1 hour ago, grandpa said:

If all the members of the committees that have been set up over the years to plan this, were laid end to end , they would probably easily reach China, and if the rails were then laid on top of them, I am sure it would make for a very smooth ride!  What a total waste of money!

There's a railroad 'tie' or golden spike joke in there somwhere. ????

[DLock]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

With the three airport rail link to the easter seaboard as part of the much vaunted EEC (eastern economic corridor) plan China could be a couple of connections away to Pattaya. 

 

If I had any property or business interests in Pattaya, I'd be planning to sell them.

 

Pattaya will become the new Sihanoukville.

 

 

[pegman]

1 hour ago, Excel said:

Is that standard gauge ?

Yes, it is the same "standard gauge" I pounded spikes on in my long ago youth. 56 1/2"

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The overall plan is to have a high speed rail link that will connect Bangkok to China via Laos.

 

With the three airport rail link to the easter seaboard as part of the much vaunted EEC (eastern economic corridor) plan China could be a couple of connections away to Pattaya. 

Thank the lord I live in the west of Thailand

[bojo]

Interesting perspective on that vid............I remember reading in the very early noughties about how Sihanoukville was the 'new Samui' etc etc wth many French in particular and other
Western (mostly) expats setting up bungalow resorts and the like and thinking, 'wow, sound great, I wanna take a look' and then in a matter of a decade or so it's all over for those investors and even more poignant is that(according to the tuk tuk driver in this video) it's all over for the locals as well....he states at the end that his province has lost it's beauty...I think he forgot 'identity' ............. I can't imagine what it's like to live where he is and literally have another country's citizens take over and their government succumb to what amounts to 21st Century foreign imperialism, at least that's what it seems like......... I can handle being treated as second class (just about!!) in Thailand because I'm a foreigner, but over there.................I feel for them.................................

[Darkside Gray]

These committees can really transport you to your destination so much quicker!~

[Isaan sailor]

They give you Covid, they damn up Mekong,, and now you want their high speed rail connection?  Amazing Thailand.

[rudi49jr]

Oh goodie, ????????????, even more committees. And even more opportunities to get fat brown envelopes. Remember that break-in, I think it was in 2011, the house of the deputy minister of Transport? The deputy minister and his wife were away for the evening and 10 guys broke in and made off with about 100 million baht in cash.

They got caught, though, and said later that they were only able to take about 10% of the money that was there, so there must have been a billion baht there. 
So what was a deputy minister doing with about a billion baht in cash lying around the house? I think we all know the answer to that question. After the break-in, there were rumors that it had been ordered by some of the colleagues of the deputy minister, because they hadn’t been paid their cut.

This new high speed railway line to China must be a veritable goldmine to a lot of Thai government officials.

[The Theory]

I can see the time for moving to Mexico.

[gearbox]

6 hours ago, 3MagicBeers said:

The entire Lao link from the Boten border to Vientiane is 95% complete, due to open in December this year.

Do you know if they would have cargo cars with the passenger trains? Would be interesting if one can transport a bicycle.

[gearbox]

4 hours ago, DLock said:

 

If I had any property or business interests in Pattaya, I'd be planning to sell them.

 

Pattaya will become the new Sihanoukville.

 

 

 

Most of the Westerners have left Sihanoukville because they were priced out. The local salaries and rents went up times.  I spoke with a barman working in the well known "club" Dolphin on the beach, he was making between 80-100$ per month before the Chinese came, no day off. Same same for the factories on the road to Phnom Penh. Now seems a couple of hundred $ per month is a fairly common salary.

 

What went wrong with Sihanoukville was that it developed in wrong direction with gambling as the core industry. Gambling in a pretty lawless country brings dirty money and crime in spades.

 

[Susco]

7 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

7 hours ago, mr_lob said:

Build a wall and make China pay! Betterrrrr

Don't the Chinese already have a wall?

 

Yes and soon a railway, paid for by Thailand and Laos

[RichardColeman]

Wonder which committee is the one for buying up the land on the route or planning the route to go over land already owned by those in the know ?

[herfiehandbag]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Meetings will be taking place in June on how the line might cross the border into Laos connecting Nong Khai and Vientiane, the capital of Thailand's neighbor.

You know, given that crossing the Mekong River at Nong Khai is pretty fundamental to the whole project, one imagines that they would have given some thought to the matter from the start!

 

I reckon that they will have to build some sort of bridge ????????

Edited May 28, 2021 by herfiehandbag