Troubled Thai State Railway Targets $18 Billion in Land Projects

[webfact]

A commuter trains arrives during a media tour of the Bang Sue Grand Station rail hub in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, March 26, 2021. Thailand will waive quarantine requirements for vaccinated foreign visitors arriving on the resort island of Phuket from July 1. The government plans to test the reopening plan before expanding to other key tourist hotspots to help restart the tourism industry battered by a year without its millions of tourists. , Bloomberg

 

Randy Thanthong-Knight, Bloomberg News

 

(Bloomberg) -- The State Railway of Thailand has set up a company to manage and monetize its most-valuable properties in an effort to reverse decades of losses.

 

While the idea of generating income from SRT assets has been around for years, the plans are only now taking shape, with prime real estate being transferred to an asset-management unit, Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob said in an interview. 

 

Set up in 1890 to provide not-for-profit transport services, the rail operator has accumulated about 44,000 hectares (109,000 acres) of land across Thailand -- and racked up billions in liabilities through money-losing operations. The SRT is among the most-indebted state agencies and country’s largest property owners. 

 

Full story: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/troubled-thai-state-railway-targets-18-billion-in-land-projects-1.1657678

 

-- © Copyright BNN Bloomberg 2021-09-27

 

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[fangless]

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

A commuter trains arrives during a media tour of the Bang Sue Grand Station rail hub in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, March 26, 2021. Thailand will waive quarantine requirements for vaccinated foreign visitors arriving on the resort island of Phuket from July 1.

Are we in a time warp?

Edited September 27, 2021 by fangless

[PETERTHEEATER]

Selling off railway-owned real estate will displace huge numbers of squatters as the new owners take possession.

[ukrules]

45 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Selling off railway-owned real estate will displace huge numbers of squatters as the new owners take possession.

Yes, it will, they've been clearing a load of them out in Hua Hin recently anyway.

 

[madmitch]

So it's taken 130 years to think of this?

[hotchilli]

12 minutes ago, madmitch said:

So it's taken 130 years to think of this?

Nah, just the right people in place to sell-off the family silver.

[Sydebolle]

Just to spell it out in clear ENGLISH:

The State Railways of Thailand is sitting on assets given to them by the government. The Government is chosen by the people. So the SRT sits on assets given to them by the people to operate their business.

If they now go and sell any assets (which do not belong to them), then it is nothing but stealing from the tax payer for personal enrichment of all those corrupt pigs and clowns running the show there. 

What a disgrace for a "modern" country in the 21st century! Despicable! 

[mikebike]

16 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

Just to spell it out in clear ENGLISH:

The State Railways of Thailand is sitting on assets given to them by the government. The Government is chosen by the people. So the SRT sits on assets given to them by the people to operate their business.

If they now go and sell any assets (which do not belong to them), then it is nothing but stealing from the tax payer for personal enrichment of all those corrupt pigs and clowns running the show there. 

What a disgrace for a "modern" country in the 21st century! Despicable! 

Apparently you are unaware that this is SOP for government entities in every country in the world. Try looking out from under that rock now and then.

[Dogmatix]

SRTseems to have been unable to raise fares since the 770s which is a bit of a problem.  Another problem is that its powerful union was the only state enterprise union to successfully resist being forced into the government pension scheme and retain its much better benefits defined scheme. The result is that SRT pays more in post retirement benefits than than it gets revenues.  It is riddled with corruption and dominated by mafia management and unions and anyone who attempts any kind of reform will immediately get death threats against their families, just like BMTA.  Much of its land is leased on sweetheart deals, e.g. Central Lard Prao, the Railway Golf Course Hua Hin to Singha beer and probably the Centara Hotel Hua Hin too. Then there is the huge railway marshalling yard in Bkk.  Politicians have been itching to get their hands on the land for decades.  It will be interesting to see how it will go.  The article doesn't mention how SRT will solve its entrenched problems after selling its land probably for way less than market value.  

[Dogmatix]

29 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

Just to spell it out in clear ENGLISH:

The State Railways of Thailand is sitting on assets given to them by the government. The Government is chosen by the people. So the SRT sits on assets given to them by the people to operate their business.

If they now go and sell any assets (which do not belong to them), then it is nothing but stealing from the tax payer for personal enrichment of all those corrupt pigs and clowns running the show there. 

What a disgrace for a "modern" country in the 21st century! Despicable! 

SRT is stting on assets given to it by the King.  There are some arguments that it cannot sell because it holds the land effectively in trust for King and country and should manage the assets properly taking care that the use is for the good of the nation, so as not to betray the King's trust and remembering that SRT was started as not for profit, rather than flog them off to businesses that couldn't care less. Personally I feel that argument has merit but getting SRT to manage the assets properly would be an uphill task.   

Edited September 27, 2021 by Dogmatix

[Sydebolle]

43 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

SRT is stting on assets given to it by the King.  There are some arguments that it cannot sell because it holds the land effectively in trust for King and country and should manage the assets properly taking care that the use is for the good of the nation, so as not to betray the King's trust and remembering that SRT was started as not for profit, rather than flog them off to businesses that couldn't care less. Personally I feel that argument has merit but getting SRT to manage the assets properly would be an uphill task.   

Those where the days, when HM Rama V, as an absolute monarch at that time, wisely created Royal State Railways of Siam which facilitated logistics and control over Siam. This transportation department then changed its name in 1951 to today's SRT. The agency is listed as a state enterprise and hence belongs to the people, if I am not mistaken. Land given by HM in the past to this state agency was a gift and not a purchase and, most likely, to be used specifically to run a railway. 

SRT dodgy if not shady land deal with Central Department Store in Ladprao springs to mind which got renewed after the first 30-years-lease expired. Up to then, the land was leased to Central at apparently THB 8 million  ...... a year that is, while the market relevant rent would closer to a billion. See what King Power has to shell out to the Airport Authority of Thailand for their duty free monopoly. 

If SRT considers offloading assets given to them - as they have no use of them (i.e. land)  .......... then this state agency (belonging to the people of Thailand) should return the asset to either the Crown or to the people of Thailand - me thinks! 

 

Wikipedia tells us, that SRT's budget from the central government for their financial year of 2019 was 9,987 million Baht. 

In 2017, the SRT lost 17 billion Baht and had "suffered" a loss every year since it was turned into a state-owned enterprise under the Transport Ministry in 1951 - to this date approx. 100 billion Baht.
Its annual operating losses are estimated at a minimum of 10 billion Baht. In 2017 the military government budgeted more than 76 billion Baht for SRT infrastructure investments. 

All this for a network of approx. 4'000kms of tracks or - compared to highways - a hefty 1% (one percent) of the 390'000kms of highways ...... the mind boggles and if they now start to dispose of assets they never bought, you might wonder if not closing the whole shop and privatizing it to some real professionals might be the answer. So happened in many other instances on public transportation losing money head over heels yet, once privatized, started minting money. 

Edited September 27, 2021 by Sydebolle

[herfiehandbag]

I wasn't aware that the State Railways of Thailand were set up as a "not for profit" undertaking.

 

In that respect at least they seem to have been remarkably successful!

[unblocktheplanet]

4 hours ago, madmitch said:

So it's taken 130 years to think of this?

Thai timezone...

[RubbaJohnny]

While there is a lot of coupling on the sidelines SRT does provide a very cheap travel even free in rudimentary 19 century style 2nd and 3rd class comfort.

Often full of Monks on tour, people who seem to move house/smuggle by train with huge paper packages all tied up with string.

 

It also provdes a meagre income for an army of grannies who sell almost anthing as they ride free stop to stop in rural areas,vending leftover dinner and sticky foods to eager travellers.

 

 

The few wealthy travellers would pre Covid have been foreign tourists,  I often enjoyed the direct albeit slow sleeper to Penang.

The cheap airlines have killed that market .Once Smile, Vietjet  AA Lion recover from Covid that will be my long haul option internally .

 

The much touted High Speed Beijing-Sngapore  line may appear for my great great grandchildren if the gravy boat is spread enough.

 

I'd imagine by that time a Musk drone/rocket  will be able to fire us accurately into large catchnets towed by umanned redundant Australian submarines , if telekinesis is still awaiting Nop to deliver teh spare parts by nuclear tuktuk from Spaceport Surin.

Edited September 28, 2021 by RubbaJohnny