New rail lines linking Bangkok’s West and East approved



BANGKOK: -- The cabinet yesterday approved several economic stimulus packages that include the construction of the Pink and Yellow electric rail routes.

Finance Minister, Apisak Tantiworawong said the packages has been proposed by the Finance Ministry.

He said the Pink Line will connect Khae Rai in Bangkok’s west to Minburi in the eastern part of the capital.

A budget of 53.490 billion baht has been approved for this project, he said.

Another electric rail route approved by the cabinet is the Yellow Line which will connect Lardprao in the east with Samrong district of Samut Prakarn.

He said 51.810 billion baht will be budgeted for this second line.

Both projects will be launched under the Private Public Partnership Net Cost (PPC Net Cost) format, he said.

Under such a scheme concessionaires will meet construction costs from its own revenues which include the complete electric rail system, consultancy fees and the running and maintenance costs.

The government will provide the civil infrastructure such as land titles and will invite tenders and establish a concession.

The construction of the projects is expected to take 3 years and 3 months and the concessions will last for 30 years.

Land acquisition cost for both lines is estimated to be 13 billion baht.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/157449

-- Thai PBS 2016-03-30

Shouldn't they be trying to fix the rail lines that are having so many problems like the airport link? How about improving rail lines inside Bkk to ease the traffic congestion?

100 billion! What a waste. Imagine if that money was put into the Education system. Now THAT would progress the country! But....wishful thinking.

Edited March 30, 201610 yr by jerojero

100 billion! What a waste. Imagine if that money was put into the Education system. Now THAT would progress the country! But....wishful thinking.

PPC ... do you even English?

Shouldn't they be trying to fix the rail lines that are having so many problems like the airport link? How about improving rail lines inside Bkk to ease the traffic congestion?

They should. However, these lines will run in Bangkok. The pink line will run past my house on Ram Inthra. Traffic is going to be a nightmare for years.

So called "Stimulus Projects".....these things take years to get to construction.....years of road chaos and the usual graft..... but.... are a great benefit to the people.....

The economy could possibly collapse in the meantime

Remember the unfinished BTS structure heading to Rangsit?

It would be nice if someone would do a cost benefit analysis based on realistic trade projections...

These projects just happen with very little forward thinking or no environmental or any other research done. How is the BTS extension down sukhumvit to Samut Prakan supposed to work. These trains will be unaccessible by the time they get to Bang na. Even now during at peak hour the train is unaccessible by the time it reaches On Nut. They run with only four carriages and even two additional will make little difference. They currently run every 3 minutes during peak hour and cannot run more frequently because of safety. Because there is only one track in each direction running non stop for several stations will not work. If they try and organise switching to the opposite track we can expect horrendous collisions. So How????

All these trains only helping Bangkokians who can afford to use them.

What about the other 50mil Thais who will probably never even see them, let alone use them

All these trains only helping Bangkokians who can afford to use them.

What about the other 50mil Thais who will probably never even see them, let alone use them

Let them eat cake unhulled rice.

Edited April 3, 201610 yr by connda

100 billion! What a waste. Imagine if that money was put into the Education system. Now THAT would progress the country! But....wishful thinking.

PPC ... do you even English?

PPC ... do you even English?

Still trying to figure this one out..............................

Any news on "commission payments"?

All these trains only helping Bangkokians who can afford to use them.

What about the other 50mil Thais who will probably never even see them, let alone use them

. Well if they won't see them it won't matter will it?

All these trains only helping Bangkokians who can afford to use them.

What about the other 50mil Thais who will probably never even see them, let alone use them

Education will be improved and Thailand will be a high income country within 10 years the minister recently said.

Then it will be like Singapore or Hongkong.

100 billion! What a waste. Imagine if that money was put into the Education system. Now THAT would progress the country! But....wishful thinking.

Actually the Thai education budget is more than adequate, It's where it disappears to that matters and more money won't change that.

Edited April 3, 201610 yr by roamer

100 billion! What a waste. Imagine if that money was put into the Education system. Now THAT would progress the country! But....wishful thinking.

PPC ... do you even English?

PPC ... do you even English?

Still trying to figure this one out..............................

It is to be funded by the concessionary to a large degree and the funds will be recouped from profits. This is not being paid for in the most part by the government and therefore saying that the money should be spent on education is a moot point because this is a PPC net cost project. If one reads the OP and understands English fairly well I would say it is clear.

100 billion! What a waste. Imagine if that money was put into the Education system. Now THAT would progress the country! But....wishful thinking.

PPC ... do you even English?

PPC ... do you even English?

Still trying to figure this one out..............................

It is to be funded by the concessionary to a large degree and the funds will be recouped from profits. This is not being paid for in the most part by the government and therefore saying that the money should be spent on education is a moot point because this is a PPC net cost project. If one reads the OP and understands English fairly well I would say it is clear.

It will be interesting to see if these PPC concessions are awarded with any sort of transparency. I am skeptical.

100 billion! What a waste. Imagine if that money was put into the Education system. Now THAT would progress the country! But....wishful thinking.

PPC ... do you even English?

PPC ... do you even English?

Still trying to figure this one out..............................

It is to be funded by the concessionary to a large degree and the funds will be recouped from profits. This is not being paid for in the most part by the government and therefore saying that the money should be spent on education is a moot point because this is a PPC net cost project. If one reads the OP and understands English fairly well I would say it is clear.

It will be interesting to see if these PPC concessions are awarded with any sort of transparency. I am skeptical.

Ah... an intelligent question. That sure would be interesting to know. I am noty sure anyone will be reporting on that.

It will take 85 committee meetings to figure out the Brown Envelope distributions, which will inevitably stop work for months and/or years.

The guys who are sitting pretty will haul ass to Singapore.

Edited April 3, 201610 yr by jaywalker