Phuket: First hearing on Surat-Phuket railway

[webfact]

Phuket: First hearing on Surat-Phuket railway
Zazithorn Ruengchinda



PHUKET: -- Overall local reaction to plans to connect Phuket to the national rail system was positive when the first public hearing on the plan was held yesterday (December 20) in The Metropole hotel in Phuket Town.

The plan, part of the B2 trillion national transport plan proposed by the Pheu Thai government, would take a year to research and another five years to build.

The packed meeting of about 200 people heard that the plan would see the main rail system extending to Phang Nga and connecting to a light rail system on the island.

A consulting engineer explained, “With this plan we could also develop an unknown district such as Thanoon to be like a new town, equipped with a five-star hotel, a shopping mall and other facilities for tourists before they transfer to Phuket and get on another train that will start from Phuket International Airport going along Thepkrasattri road.”

There will be stations at Thalang, Phuket Town and all the way down to Chalong Circle, he said.

The consultants said the rail system would consist of three stages – standard large gauge trains from Don Sak in Surat Thani to Phang Nga, then a sky train from either Tha Chat Chai or the airport to the norrthern edge of Phuket Town, and then dow n the bypass road and on to Chalong.

Passengers wanting to go into Phuket Town would take a ground-level tram-type system, because recently enacted laws require that any train system in a built-up area must run at ground level.

Despite the generally positive attitude of the meeting, there were questions and reservations. Paiboon Upatsing, President of the the Phuket provincial Adminstration Organisation, said, “It is unlikely it will be possible to build a skytrain-type [elevated railway] along Thepkrasattri Rd because there are already existing businesses and homes along the way.

“Perhaps an underground rail system should be considered. Also, the plan should be more specific about who is the priority: tourists or locals.”

A representative from the Department of Health expressed her concerns.

“At the moment the biggest problem we have to deal with is the number of road casualties. Hopefully the train can help reduce the numbers.

“And please do not forget that there are more local residents than tourists on the island and that their lost lives are just as important as those of foreigners.”

Governor Maitree Intusut noted that there are already three or four development projects under construction or planned, such as underpasses and the tunnel under Patong Hill. The railway, he said, should dovetail with these. For example, the Harbour Department had asked how the railway would connect to the island’s water transportation system.

An official from the Phuket International Airport, asking not to be named, told The Phuket News, “What Phuket’s missing is coordination. Everyone seems to work separately.”

He was also worried about the potential for corruption, given the large sums of tax payers’ money involved in the project. The only way to combat this, he felt, was if local people understand the project and are aware of what is happening.

He asked, “What I wonder most is, have they considered how much Phuket’s population will grow and how things are likely to change on the island during the long rail construction period?”

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/first-hearing-on-surat-phuket-railway-43573.php


-- Phuket News 2013-12-21

[terryp]

all talk no action ......the PLR phuket light railway was due to start construction in 2000

the one constant in Thailand is the ability for officials to talk absolute bollax

[scorecard]

Hopefully the people who attended the hearing did not have to register their names in advance.

[simon43]

And please do not forget that there are more local residents than tourists on the island

Sure?? That would seem to go against the stats from TAT who claim that 4 trillion foreign tourists (or nearabouts) visit Phuket every 5 minutes....

[Ulic]

Should have been done a long time ago. We shall see what comes to ass. You have to remember officials love

these big projects. This is when you get your vacation home, Mercedes, fatten your retirement account. etc..

[sprq]

Unlike the insane high-speed train projects, this is a project that is very sensible and that should have been done long ago.