Plans underway for mass transit and Phuket-Surat Thani rail link

[Lite Beer]

Plans underway for mass transit and Phuket-Surat Thani rail link to connect Gulf of Thailand to the Andaman Sea
Naraporn Tuarob

Phuket Governor Maitree Intusut at the transport meeting.

PHUKET: Plans for a new mass transit system connecting Phuket to Surat Thani have been announced, with a study now underway to determine the best way to do it.

The plan is for some sort of transit system, which has yet to be decided, to connect Don Sak in Surat Thani, to Tha-Noon, in Phang Nga just over Sarasin Bridge. This will be some type of “heavy rail” system.

The second part of the plan will connect Tha-Noon to Phuket International Airport, and will then go to Chalong Circle.

Egis Rail, a Singapore-based company, won the bid to complete the two feasibility studies for the project. The study began in September this year and will continue for another 14 months.

In March 2012, the government allocated B118 million for the two feasibility studies.

Thailand’s train network currently runs from Bangkok to Surat Thani, and then down to Yala and carries on via Malayan Railways to Penang in Malaysia. There has never been a Phuket rail link.

At the moment there is no exact route or system confirmed for the new project because there are many factors to consider, including geography, environmental, cost, and the most appropriate type of design, the meeting was told.

Egis Rail Director Bruno Vantu told The Phuket News that there were pros and cons to the different options.

"Phuket is not a capital city, it is a smaller, second-tier type of city, so a metro type of transport system is likely to be not appropriate.

“A BRT (bus transit system) only is quite destructive, and better for the outskirts of the city. The monorail is elevated, and doesn’t solve the problem of the traffic. The LTR (light rail) is the better possibility to solve the traffic issue.”

When asked about the cost of the project, Mr Vantu said it could cost “hundreds of millions of Euros”.

“This is a big project, and that’s why financing is important. The BRT is cheaper but it doesn’t last long. You must look at the project over a 20-30 year span, and look at the investment costs plus the operation costs. Over 30 years, the LTR type of system can be competitive.”

Phuket Governor Maitree Intusut told The Phuket News after the meeting that the main goal of the project was to transport tourists from the Gulf of Thailand (Surat Thani) to the Andaman side (Phuket).

“We haven’t conducted any public hearings yet. The link from Tha-Noon to Chalong Circle will have multiple options – it could be a mix between heavy rail and monorail.

“The main route will be from the airport to Chalong Circle. It might be possible for other routes, like connecting to Patong, but we will have to consider the cost of investment.”

It is not the first time a large Phuket transport project has been mooted. In May 2012 the idea for a light rail project on the island was first announced, under then-Governor Tri Augkaradacha.

At the time, nine companies; five from China, three from South Korea, and one from Germany; showed interest in what would have been Phuket’s most comprehensive public transportation system.

A project study was due to take place but it is not known if this happened.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/plans-underway-for-mass-transit-and-phuket-surat-thani-rail-link-to-connect-gulf-of-thailand-to-the-andaman-sea-42467.php

-- Phuket News 2013-10-21

[Joe Mamma]

There goes Ranong and Pang Na the sorry way of Phuket.

[Arkady]

And plenty of S class Benzes for corrupt government officials and politicians - overseas educations, Ferraris and a license to kill for their worthless sprogs.

[LivinginKata]

Wishful thinking by those looking for the large back handers for gov projects.

[Spare]

This only give excuse for the Muslim to claim their own country south of the line.

[MK1]

Must be an election looming in 2014 or a sweetener perhaps to calm those angry democratic beasts down-south in light of the 3^rd reading of the amnesty bill now blowing in the wind.

Edited October 21, 2013 by MK1

[damian]

A decent high capacity BRT system can move 12,000 people per hour per direction. an LRT system even more than that.

If the feasibility study is not manipulated they should discover that the origin-destination profile of the modal share commuter population of Phuket likely to use a rapid transit system will not come anywhere near this requirement not now or in the foreseeable future. Yes there are plenty of cars on the roads but they all go in different directions - airport to Chalong is a trunk corridor used for many different travel patterns not just one.

Design an initial bus system (or BRT if you need to be trendy) that caters to the mix in O-D profile and is flexible enough to change when required. Make it high frequency, reliable, cheap and safe and a degree of modal shift will occur. But please do not think that a LRT from the airport to Chalong circle is going to solve Phukets growing traffic woes.

Like the boss of the New York subway once said; "never build a railway until you have a traffic jam of buses".

[Bkungbank]

They should have connected ports between Gulf of Thailand and Andaman sea to save ships from pirates in Straits of Malacca and 4 days journey down but because conflict interest with Singapore the project have never mention,

Oil refinery will make Thailand Billions of dollars in taxes instance charging visitors 500 Baht per visit which ruin the whole travel industry.

Like Panama it makes huge profit to share and develop southern area make it rich so the people will not fight.

Cut a canal was impossible as like separate the southern provinces but to make a connection ports will benefit the Thai people.

Edited October 21, 2013 by Bkungbank

[Valentine]

Surely a feasibility study can be completed in much less than 14 months. The archaic, slow pace of bureaucracy plus the fact every man & his dog wants to get their fingers in the pie means that hardly anything of any worth gets done properly & quickly. Bangkok skytrain & new airport were on the drawing boards for several generations before they were finally realized are just 2 examples.

[hansgruber]

I can see the usefulness in logistics.

Shipping produce from the gulf to the Andaman sea and vice versa would save huge amounts of time and money.

The Chalong circle part is just ridiculous. They can't relocate or acquire that much land into Chalong.

[bangon04]

Surely a feasibility study can be completed in much less than 14 months. The archaic, slow pace of bureaucracy plus the fact every man & his dog wants to get their fingers in the pie means that hardly anything of any worth gets done properly & quickly. Bangkok skytrain & new airport were on the drawing boards for several generations before they were finally realized are just 2 examples.

"A project study was due to take place but it is not known if this happened"

This is one of Thailand's true HUB expertises - "Plans Underway"

[KarenBravo]

The governor looks like he's just been slapped around the face with a fresh fish......

[hansgruber]

The governor looks like he's just been slapped around the face with a fresh fish......

From the look on his face, it wasn't that fresh.

[wileycoyote]

Good engineering challenge,however is there enough cash ?

[pomchop]

Hey we are still waiting for the long long promised, discussed, train to Chiang Rai....remember all the talk about freight coming into Thailand from China and how the new service would eliminate thousands of long distance trucks?

Why does Phuket need a train when they already have such a fantastic public transport system operated by the taxi mafia?

[pokerspiv]

I can see the usefulness in logistics.

Shipping produce from the gulf to the Andaman sea and vice versa would save huge amounts of time and money.

The Chalong circle part is just ridiculous. They can't relocate or acquire that much land into Chalong.

You'd be surprised what governments can do when they are motivated.

[JoeThePoster]

The plan is for some sort of transit system

Sounds like a plan to me.

[BlackJack]

it would be cheaper to give everyone a jet ski