CP to invest in Bangkok-Pattaya- Rayong high speed train

[ExPratt]

This tickled me , the finish date actually made me laugh out loud

TOKYO -- Thailand could use Japanese bullet trains in its planned north-south rail link, Deputy Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told The Nikkei here Friday.

The high-speed link proposed by Thailand's military-led government runs between Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai, about 700km away. The project is seen costing some 430 billion baht ($13.2 billion). It will likely be undertaken by a joint Thai-Japanese effort, Arkhom said.

http://asia.nikkei.com/Japan-Update/Thais-eye-Japanese-bullet-trains-for-north-south-route?

[BSJ]

As a train lover this country is going to turn out to be the bestest greatest train spotting nation in the whole world!

[White Christmas13]

That's what you call a high speed train

[Geordie59]

CP Thailands monopolist getting their hands into trains. Expect ticket prices to raise 100fold

If this were ever to be built it would nice to have to option of paying whatever price the ticket costs.

More choice and more competition usually results in keeping prices in check.

[chainarong]

These proposals crop up from time to time , Personally they don't like their money , private consortiums have proposed Sydney - Melbourne and Brisbane routes about a dozen times and each time they see the logistics it dies of a natural death, same will happen here, CP has no experience in H/S rail , it is like Airlines, it is a specialist industry , chicken and noodles are easier to deliver at a quarter of the cost.

[chainarong]

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As a train lover this country is going to turn out to be the bestest greatest train spotting nation in the whole world! alt=whistling.gif>

If you can find one

[Godders]

Fantastic! I'm sure that at least one car on the train will be a 7/11.

Typical passenger who is Pattaya bound: "What do you mean you can't sale beer?

Steward: No sir, If you want to buy beer, then you need to take the 8am, the 5 pm, 11am or the 3am from Bangkok to Pattaya. It's the law sir.. May I offer you a microwaved processed ham and processed cheese sandwich on a sweet white bread with a bag of processed savory fish flavoured spicy crisps and an overly sweet Coke instead; all wrapped in tidy plastic bags? (spoken in broken Thaiglish)

Typical passenger who is Pattaya bound: Huh...? What the hell am I supposed to do for the next 15 minutes?

A bit of satire...

Jeez, are there any contributors to this website with a perspective on life that reaches beyond their beer gut?

[Orac]

These proposals crop up from time to time , Personally they don't like their money , private consortiums have proposed Sydney - Melbourne and Brisbane routes about a dozen times and each time they see the logistics it dies of a natural death, same will happen here, CP has no experience in H/S rail , it is like Airlines, it is a specialist industry , chicken and noodles are easier to deliver at a quarter of the cost.

I wouldn't be so sure. There are huge amounts of government money sloshing around here that i am sure CP would love to get a slice of. Remember back at the beginning of the 90's when the the Junta installed Anand govt was investing in infrastructure and dubiously gave CP huge amounts for installing 3m phone lines (and paid for another certain individual to launch a satellite).

The focus is on transport infrastructure this time but i am sure a lot of the same old faces, minus one, will be looking to cash in.

[rubl]

These proposals crop up from time to time , Personally they don't like their money , private consortiums have proposed Sydney - Melbourne and Brisbane routes about a dozen times and each time they see the logistics it dies of a natural death, same will happen here, CP has no experience in H/S rail , it is like Airlines, it is a specialist industry , chicken and noodles are easier to deliver at a quarter of the cost.

I wouldn't be so sure. There are huge amounts of government money sloshing around here that i am sure CP would love to get a slice of. Remember back at the beginning of the 90's when the the Junta installed Anand govt was investing in infrastructure and dubiously gave CP huge amounts for installing 3m phone lines (and paid for another certain individual to launch a satellite).

The focus is on transport infrastructure this time but i am sure a lot of the same old faces, minus one, will be looking to cash in.

The Bangkok - Pattaya - Rayong link would be financed by the private sector, in this case CP. Same for Bangkok - HuaHin, but then by ThaiBev. It would seem both companies have some loose change they would like to get rid of.

[Orac]

These proposals crop up from time to time , Personally they don't like their money , private consortiums have proposed Sydney - Melbourne and Brisbane routes about a dozen times and each time they see the logistics it dies of a natural death, same will happen here, CP has no experience in H/S rail , it is like Airlines, it is a specialist industry , chicken and noodles are easier to deliver at a quarter of the cost.

I wouldn't be so sure. There are huge amounts of government money sloshing around here that i am sure CP would love to get a slice of. Remember back at the beginning of the 90's when the the Junta installed Anand govt was investing in infrastructure and dubiously gave CP huge amounts for installing 3m phone lines (and paid for another certain individual to launch a satellite).

The focus is on transport infrastructure this time but i am sure a lot of the same old faces, minus one, will be looking to cash in.

The Bangkok - Pattaya - Rayong link would be financed by the private sector, in this case CP. Same for Bangkok - HuaHin, but then by ThaiBev. It would seem both companies have some loose change they would like to get rid of.

Both are sitting on huge amounts of debt at the moment after acquisitions over the last few years and borrowing more, especially to invest in non-core business could pose problems for them. Though privately financed, are you aware if their are govt subsidies involved anywhere or other benefits such as favorable land acquisition or guaranteed income?

[rubl]

These proposals crop up from time to time , Personally they don't like their money , private consortiums have proposed Sydney - Melbourne and Brisbane routes about a dozen times and each time they see the logistics it dies of a natural death, same will happen here, CP has no experience in H/S rail , it is like Airlines, it is a specialist industry , chicken and noodles are easier to deliver at a quarter of the cost.

I wouldn't be so sure. There are huge amounts of government money sloshing around here that i am sure CP would love to get a slice of. Remember back at the beginning of the 90's when the the Junta installed Anand govt was investing in infrastructure and dubiously gave CP huge amounts for installing 3m phone lines (and paid for another certain individual to launch a satellite).

The focus is on transport infrastructure this time but i am sure a lot of the same old faces, minus one, will be looking to cash in.

The Bangkok - Pattaya - Rayong link would be financed by the private sector, in this case CP. Same for Bangkok - HuaHin, but then by ThaiBev. It would seem both companies have some loose change they would like to get rid of.

Both are sitting on huge amounts of debt at the moment after acquisitions over the last few years and borrowing more, especially to invest in non-core business could pose problems for them. Though privately financed, are you aware if their are govt subsidies involved anywhere or other benefits such as favorable land acquisition or guaranteed income?

The only other detail I have is that CP asked to extend the Bangkok - Pattaya link to Rayong to make it more economical viable.

I found a reference to Prachatai and Matachon websites, but that's Thai only. If you're interested PM me and I'll dig up the links.

[harrry]

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There are always tilt trains that can handlefaster speed round those curves.

Loads of possibilities but tilting trains , High speed rai. would be like the old Monkey with a machine gun saying. Look around you and see if you can see anything built or maintained to any quality. Its not laziness its just a Thai or Third world mentality , no one does anything until something is completely unusable of extremely dangerous and then its usually bodged up for a quick fix.Not being racist or anti Thai , my missus and kids are like it , something breaks or doesn't work they just walk past it.

Now it seems BTS seems to run well , not that i use it everyday , but that is because it is a "Closed" environment and can be controlled relatively easily. It will be far harder to do that with national rail projects. IMO Thailand would be better off leaving the High Tech stuff alone

Personally i would like to see either a dual track standardguage fast freight track (not super high speed say 200kmh) or for lesser routes a train like the Perth fremantle line. metre guage speed round 170kmh but in hot weather they have to drop to 140 because of track expansion.

[halloween]

I think speeds over 100 km/h require standard gauge tracks, not 1-metre gauge.

The Oz rail speed record is 210km/h on a metre gauge track. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt_Train

Edited April 25, 2015 by halloween

[Ricardo]

If the line goes past Pattaya to Rayong, it might be nice if it could go via Utapao, a rail-link to Pattaya & Bangkok might help make that airport much more attractive for the LCCs & charter-flights full of budget-tourists ?

[thailandforumaddict]

Bangkok-Pattaya-Rayong would be the most profitable of any of the projected rail projects envisaged that haven't been allocated yet.

The monies not in passengers. It's in freight to and from Rayong and Laem Chabang and connecting to the north-south line which will connect with the east-west corridor.

If the passenger service operates on the same principles as 7-Eleven ticket prices I predict will rival the current bus service with probably the addition of a first class car at a higher price.

Agree !!!

And tourists will take it because it will be safer than the farmers cars...

[Local Drunk]

Fantastic! I'm sure that at least one car on the train will be a 7/11.

Typical passenger who is Pattaya bound: "What do you mean you can't sale beer?

Steward: No sir, If you want to buy beer, then you need to take the 8am, the 5 pm, 11am or the 3am from Bangkok to Pattaya. It's the law sir.. May I offer you a microwaved processed ham and processed cheese sandwich on a sweet white bread with a bag of processed savory fish flavoured spicy crisps and an overly sweet Coke instead; all wrapped in tidy plastic bags? (spoken in broken Thaiglish)

Typical passenger who is Pattaya bound: Huh...? What the hell am I supposed to do for the next 15 minutes?

A bit of satire...

Jeez, are there any contributors to this website with a perspective on life that reaches beyond their beer gut?

What beer gut? I don't have one. Can anyone on this forum see my belly? No, they can't. If I did have a beer gut it would be none of your business anyway and irrelevant to my post. It was satire which don't seem to get. As far as perspective goes... Cheers! I raise my glass to you! May you live long to live long enough to understand what you read, have a beer gut and be reasoned enough to respond to a post with just an inkling of common sense.

[DrTuner]

Well, the route seems viable judging from the exodus of bangkokians escaping their concrete ant nest into the glorious seaside paradise of Pattaya every weekend. I'd be happy to have it, as then they would be stuck waiting for their "high speed" train at the station while I cruise steadily at 130kph on highway 7.

[yellowboat]

Not a big fan of Thailand Inc. but CP does know how to sell. Was in small town Cambodia and outside their office they were selling all their fried chicken products at night. They have also opened shops in Shenzhen.

Having said that, they will need to sell a lot more chicken to pay off this debacle. Could be wrong, but the ROI does not look all that great. The bus from Ekamai is not all that expensive or uncomfortable. Unless there is a lot of freight heading to the port, can't see it becoming profitable in a reasonable time frame.

[JAG]

Will there be a really annoying "Ding Dong" every time the doors open?

[Langsuan Man]

The rail line as currently configured splits into two branches

One goes to the Navy Pier in Sattahip and the closest it gets to Utapo Airport is approximately 3 kilometers to the North

The other continues on to Rayong but you have to follow it all the way to see several curves closer to Rayong after the major curve at the split

[Cardiff1963]

Help me, trainspotters and whingers on the same thread.

[ExPratt]

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There are always tilt trains that can handlefaster speed round those curves.

Loads of possibilities but tilting trains , High speed rai. would be like the old Monkey with a machine gun saying. Look around you and see if you can see anything built or maintained to any quality. Its not laziness its just a Thai or Third world mentality , no one does anything until something is completely unusable of extremely dangerous and then its usually bodged up for a quick fix.Not being racist or anti Thai , my missus and kids are like it , something breaks or doesn't work they just walk past it.

Now it seems BTS seems to run well , not that i use it everyday , but that is because it is a "Closed" environment and can be controlled relatively easily. It will be far harder to do that with national rail projects. IMO Thailand would be better off leaving the High Tech stuff alone

Personally i would like to see either a dual track standardguage fast freight track (not super high speed say 200kmh) or for lesser routes a train like the Perth fremantle line. metre guage speed round 170kmh but in hot weather they have to drop to 140 because of track expansion.

In Thailand they probably wouldn't have to take those measures on new track form. The same as Malaysia the extremes in Rail Temperature , Highs and Lows are not far apart Night would be average 25 on a very hot day probably rail Temp of 55+, so the difference is only 30 degrees. Now I'd image in summer Perth would get Rail Temps as high as Thailand/Malaysia 55 ish , but the lows would be far lower so the difference in extremes temperatures is far bigger say 50 degrees. All New track should be de-stressed before operations to start to the higher end temperature , 45+- 3 degrees something like that in this part of the world , its not the Mean average temp its usually on the higher side as this keeps the track in tension (Less Steel) and negates the chances of track Buckling. De-stressing should also be part of Maintenance and in countries like the UK and Europe must be done seasonally