High-speed rail service to Pattaya could be running within five years
By Coconuts Bangkok


Beautiful, wholesome Pattaya.

BANGKOK: -- According to Chula Sukmanob, director of the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning, high-speed rail service to Pattaya could be a reality within the next five years.

The government has plans to solicit bids for the proposed rail line beginning this September. After that, there will be a five-year interval before the rail’s completion.

Once constructed, the line will carry trains at 250 kilometers an hour, closing the distance between Bangkok and Pattaya in roughly one hour.

Full story: http://www.coconutsbangkok.com/news/high-speed-rail-service-to-pattaya-could-be-running-within-five-years/


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2013-03-12

I thought pattaya was 120km from Bangkok ..... at 250km/h I think we will need less than one hour to arrive no ?

I love Thailand and all those ideas and hub projects ..... unfortunately (or not) none of those projects never come out of the drawer.

WHY? Wouldn't an extension of the airport rail link @160km/h be fast enough for the short journey, and many billions of baht cheaper?

I thought pattaya was 120km from Bangkok ..... at 250km/h I think we will need less than one hour to arrive no ?

I love Thailand and all those ideas and hub projects ..... unfortunately (or not) none of those projects never come out of the drawer.

The train would need time to reach that speed and also time to slow down before arrival

For such a short journey I doubt if it would even reach top speed

What it is april fools day already?

Chula Sukmanob. Now there is the perfect surname for a man in Pataya!

Chula Sukmanob. Now there is the perfect surname for a man in Pataya!

Even better for a Thammasat supporter. As in "hey Chula, .."

WHY? Wouldn't an extension of the airport rail link @160km/h be fast enough for the short journey, and many billions of baht cheaper?

I didnt know you were going to pay for the project

WHY? Wouldn't an extension of the airport rail link @160km/h be fast enough for the short journey, and many billions of baht cheaper?

Perhaps most users will be coming from Bangkok and not the airport. And there'll no doubt be a transfer available from the airport link.

I thought pattaya was 120km from Bangkok ..... at 250km/h I think we will need less than one hour to arrive no ?

I love Thailand and all those ideas and hub projects ..... unfortunately (or not) none of those projects never come out of the drawer.

The plan is for slow travel at both ends there by giving the sexpats time for a short peek at the wonders to come.

Nothing to stop the HSR from sharing the rails from Makkasan to where the line branches to the airport.

Standard gauge and 25kV power is what the HSR would use.

What it is april fools day already?

For the PTP every day is April fools day.

I recall the announcements about a high speed rail connection Bangkok - Rayong in the next 3 years, but that was approximately 10 years ago

I thought pattaya was 120km from Bangkok ..... at 250km/h I think we will need less than one hour to arrive no ?

I love Thailand and all those ideas and hub projects ..... unfortunately (or not) none of those projects never come out of the drawer.

The plan is for slow travel at both ends there by giving the sexpats time for a short peek at the wonders to come.

Ahh to be young again and know what I know now

Edited March 12, 201313 yr by Pimay1

WHY? Wouldn't an extension of the airport rail link @160km/h be fast enough for the short journey, and many billions of baht cheaper?

Because Mick, that would make too much sense. At airport rail-link speeds, passengers would still be in Pattaya fast enough for the first Viagra to take effect.

running within 5 years - that's comical. I live in Samutprakan and I never thought I'd see the day when they extended the BTS here; it took them 5 years to get to Bearing, and yes, they have started continuing the route but it'll take years. Even a simple road underpass on the Srinakarin/Udomsuk intersection took almost three years. High-speed to Pattaya isn't happening this side of 2040.

High Speed, High Speed,... but on frail and infrastructure that can crumble under the surface, it's rather gonna be High speed-FAIL

I thought pattaya was 120km from Bangkok ..... at 250km/h I think we will need less than one hour to arrive no ?

I love Thailand and all those ideas and hub projects ..... unfortunately (or not) none of those projects never come out of the drawer.

250 kmph is just on the steep downhill sections. Hold on to your lunchboxes!

running within 5 years - that's comical. I live in Samutprakan and I never thought I'd see the day when they extended the BTS here; it took them 5 years to get to Bearing, and yes, they have started continuing the route but it'll take years. Even a simple road underpass on the Srinakarin/Udomsuk intersection took almost three years. High-speed to Pattaya isn't happening this side of 2040.

Completion date is of no concern. First and foremost is allocation and distribution of the funds.

running within 5 years - that's comical. I live in Samutprakan and I never thought I'd see the day when they extended the BTS here; it took them 5 years to get to Bearing, and yes, they have started continuing the route but it'll take years. Even a simple road underpass on the Srinakarin/Udomsuk intersection took almost three years. High-speed to Pattaya isn't happening this side of 2040.

Completion date is of no concern. First and foremost is allocation and distribution of the funds.

Indeed. Hopefully there will be enough left over after the allocation and distribution to actually build the thing.....

WHY? Wouldn't an extension of the airport rail link @160km/h be fast enough for the short journey, and many billions of baht cheaper?

But what about the corruption, the bigger the project the bigger the pot ? Five years ma'boy but for you seven or not at all because the money has ' gone "

Bangkok-Pattaya rapid train rail to be completed in 2018

BANGKOK, 12 March 2013 (NNT) - The high-speed train service between Bangkok and the beach city of Pattaya will be completed in 2018, while three other main routes will be finished the following year, according to a senior transport official.

Director of the Transport and Traffice Policy and Planning Office Chula Sookmanob said that the Bangkok-Pattaya high-speed train route should be the first to be completed in 2018, while the Bangkok-Hua Hin route, the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima route, and the Bangkok-Phitsanulok route will be finished in 2019.

The four high-speed train routes, together with the dual-track railway project and other mass transit rail projects, are expected to cost 1.65 trillion baht. The amount is part of the 2-trillion-baht infrastructure loan bill the government is proposing to parliament at the end of this month.


-- NNT 2013-03-12

Chula Sukmanob. Now there is the perfect surname for a man in Pataya!

I was going to make that joke.

250 kmph is just on the steep downhill sections. Hold on to your lunchboxes!

Isn't that why we come to Pattaya? So we don't have to hold onto our lunchboxes?

Edited March 12, 201313 yr by mic59

running within 5 years - that's comical. I live in Samutprakan and I never thought I'd see the day when they extended the BTS here; it took them 5 years to get to Bearing, and yes, they have started continuing the route but it'll take years. Even a simple road underpass on the Srinakarin/Udomsuk intersection took almost three years. High-speed to Pattaya isn't happening this side of 2040.

Completion date is of no concern. First and foremost is allocation and distribution of the funds.

I was wondering what possessed him to be so optimistic.

Why? In god's name, why? Or rather, how? Nobody builds high speed rail lines for such a short journey and for just a tourist resort town, unless, of course, they are corrupt b***ards looking to rake off zillions. It's pointless in any practical terms.

"According to the Bangkok Post, the government also has plans to extend high-speed train lines to Chiang Mai and Phitsanulok as part of its THB2 trillion infrastructure development initiative."

How can you extend something which doesn't exist, as Alice said to the bureaucrat. And, if it ever happens, this would be one line, not two: Phitsanulok is on the way to Chiang Mai.

Does anybody at Coconuts Bangkok have critical faculties? Apparently not, they just regurgitate the idiotic spiel that comes their way.

Edited March 12, 201313 yr by spr&q

I plan to have a 15 inch penis by the end of the year. See, I can make wild claims with a straight face too

I plan to have a 15 inch penis by the end of the year. See, I can make wild claims with a straight face too

Anyone we know?

Nothing to stop the HSR from sharing the rails from Makkasan to where the line branches to the airport.

Standard gauge and 25kV power is what the HSR would use.

I would have thought that the airport would be a major source of passengers on a BKK-Pattaya route and an essential stop. If so, what would be the time differential in using the faster train on the short BKK-airport leg?

I thought pattaya was 120km from Bangkok ..... at 250km/h I think we will need less than one hour to arrive no ?

I love Thailand and all those ideas and hub projects ..... unfortunately (or not) none of those projects never come out of the drawer.

The train would need time to reach that speed and also time to slow down before arrival

For such a short journey I doubt if it would even reach top speed

OK Darren. Are you a physics expert? Have you every ridden a Shinkansen? The trains do not take 100km to reach top speed my friend...Even at an extremely gentle 1% of G acceleration rate, you would reach 250km/h in less than 12 minutes.

Bangkok-Pattaya rapid train rail to be completed in 2018

BANGKOK, 12 March 2013 (NNT) - The high-speed train service between Bangkok and the beach city of Pattaya will be completed in 2018, while three other main routes will be finished the following year, according to a senior transport official.

Director of the Transport and Traffice Policy and Planning Office Chula Sookmanob said that the Bangkok-Pattaya high-speed train route should be the first to be completed in 2018, while the Bangkok-Hua Hin route, the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima route, and the Bangkok-Phitsanulok route will be finished in 2019.

The four high-speed train routes, together with the dual-track railway project and other mass transit rail projects, are expected to cost 1.65 trillion baht. The amount is part of the 2-trillion-baht infrastructure loan bill the government is proposing to parliament at the end of this month.

-- NNT 2013-03-12

So in fact they already announcing a finishing date while in fact they even don't have starting agreement.