Bangkok-Chiang Mai high speed train project makes headway

[sahibji]

1 hour ago, Sphere said:

Does anyone know how much these high-speed train journeys are going to cost? 

 

Are the fares going to be within the means of your average Somchai?

definitely cheaper than flying.

[gandalf12]

48 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

A train... traveling 250kph...

..... on tracks laid down by local workers..... hired by the lowest bidder.

What could possibly go wrong?

And maintained by local workers. Thinking of it everything will go wrong

[ratcatcher]

8 minutes ago, sahibji said:

train travel is a different experience and more mass mover. eventually it will make a lot of sense to have high speed trains. japan and china have already proved it.

China, population 1.375 billion, Japan population 127.3 million, Thailand 68 million+

China major cities 14, with over 5 million people, Japan 10 with over 1 million people, Thailand major cities 1 (Bangkok) with over 1 million people.

China has massive numbers of people and major cities to transport to and from. China and Japan are a major world economies. 

Thailand has a much smaller population, but many are quite poor, thus the chances of HST being successful here are much less likely.

The United Kingdom has a very comprehensive railway system, even though it was butchered 50 years ago and has been running trains to its major cities and towns for over a hundred  years.

[TechnikaIII]

4 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Another "this year".

I would be happy if I can see a decent railway in this country during my lifetime.

I am close to 60.

 

For the prices we pay, things are decent enough. If you want European quality ICE, then start saving.

[gandalf12]

15 minutes ago, sahibji said:

definitely cheaper than flying.

Has the fare been published? If so I have not seen it. Maybe you could make a comparison of the costs abd travel time.

[Assurancetourix]

9 minutes ago, gandalf12 said:

And maintained by local workers. Thinking of it everything will go wrong

 

Maintained is a word which doesn't exist in the thai dictionnary

[Sphere]

It should be there somewhere. Perhaps it's between "maimee" and "maitongkarn".

[Psimbo]

Oh dear- Thailand wants to modernize its rail links- Thaigeezeers up in arms. Best I don't check into the 'shocking state of the current rail system' thread.

 

I guess no one considered that China is running high speed links down through Laos but that wouldn't suit the tinfoil hat brigade though, would it. Far easier just to knock progress.  

[Psimbo]

35 minutes ago, gandalf12 said:

And maintained by local workers. Thinking of it everything will go wrong

Based on your experiences in PNG I take it? May want to get your own house in order first. 

[soalbundy]

New, a bomb blast at Pattani train station

[ratcatcher]

13 minutes ago, Psimbo said:

Oh dear- Thailand wants to modernize its rail links- Thaigeezeers up in arms. Best I don't check into the 'shocking state of the current rail system' thread.

 

I guess no one considered that China is running high speed links down through Laos but that wouldn't suit the tinfoil hat brigade though, would it. Far easier just to knock progress.  

"I guess no one considered that China is running high speed links down through Laos ...."

 

Do you have the time or interest to inform us followers of this topic as to where this HS link is headed? Are they planning on running HS freight to and from China? Any information no doubt, will be appreciated.  Bearing in mind, of course, that this topic is about HST to Chiang Mai and not China.

[Winniedapu]

1 hour ago, sahibji said:

train travel is a different experience and more mass mover. eventually it will make a lot of sense to have high speed trains. japan and china have already proved it.

 

Well, yes. Russia and the USA have proved that space travel is possible, but it doesn't mean that Thais could or should do it... or even try to do it.

 

Lowering ambitions to a realistic level seems like the right course to follow, and forget about the pie in the sky about Thailand being in the first world in 10 years, that isn't going to happen any more then a network of high speed trains in Thailand.

 

Winnie

[hobobo]

5 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Another "this year".

I would be happy if I can see a decent railway in this country during my lifetime.

I am close to 60.

 

Sorry, your chances have just gone down a bit - actually, quite a lot!

[212Roger]

The only bad thing about this high speed train is that it will cut down on my "boom boom' time...

[Winniedapu]

1 hour ago, Psimbo said:

Oh dear- Thailand wants to modernize its rail links- Thaigeezeers up in arms. Best I don't check into the 'shocking state of the current rail system' thread.

 

I guess no one considered that China is running high speed links down through Laos but that wouldn't suit the tinfoil hat brigade though, would it. Far easier just to knock progress.  

 

Not all change is progress friend. Especially in Thailand.

 

Winnie

[Winniedapu]

1 hour ago, ratcatcher said:

I suspect your are being facetious but, that's perfectly true because English words do not appear in a Thai dictionary. But in a Thai -English dictionary, bam-rung- บำรุง  will be found as one of the meanings of maintain.. And SRT does have maintenance engineers, just like any other railway and they do have accidents, just like any other railway. But it's such fun to mock them. 

 

But then if they were any good it wouldn't be so easy to mock them. 

 

Winnie

[JAG]

2 hours ago, chainarong said:

No what sort of people JAG

it was a sarcastic reference to the...umh shall I say different political orientation between  many in Chiang Mai and the current political focus in Bangkok.

 

Not meant personally i assure you - I live in the North too....

[Roota]

55 minutes ago, Psimbo said:

Far easier just to knock progress.  

Indeed. The reason anybody even vaguely familiar with the project won't come within a mile of this thread.

 

Suffice to say that, just as with the high-speed trunk line in Japan, the great majority of passengers won't be going all the way from one terminus to the other. They'll be getting on and off at the dozen or so stops along the way. This is exactly what's happening now with the new HSR system in Malaysia, where rail transport was practically a basket case not that many years ago. Thailand should be able to do at least as well, and the success of new projects like BTS and MRT gives me hope that they actually might.

[ChrisY1]

3 hours ago, Toscano said:

My concern is that Thailand only has narrow gauge track , that would likely have to be replaced with broad gauge .  Another concern would be the maintenance of the track as high speed accidents would be deadly .  The distances seem rather short to justify the expense  I feel that an updated broad gauge two way regular railway would serve the purpose better , as well as adapting to freight trains .  As has been suggested , It might be cheaper and quicker to fly .

 

Don't get too concerned Toscano.....this is pure fantasyland imaginitis.....it won't happen for years!

[Si Thea01]

Was I imaging this but I thought there was a thread a little while back which reported the PM announcing that this project had been completed and was currently being tested before being opened to paying passengers in October or November this year?

Edited September 3, 2016 by Si Thea01

[Dukeleto]

A high speed train in Thailand gives me the willies! A disaster waiting to happen. I certainly won't be getting on one. I can't even bring myself to board a TG flight let alone any of the other domestic carriers anymore.

 

[ratcatcher]

Just now, Dukeleto said:

A high speed train in Thailand gives me the willies! A disaster waiting to happen. I certainly won't be getting on one. I can't even bring myself to board a TG flight let alone any of the other domestic carriers anymore.

 

Best stay in your room.

[JAG]

 

12 minutes ago, Dukeleto said:

A high speed train in Thailand gives me the willies! A disaster waiting to happen. I certainly won't be getting on one. I can't even bring myself to board a TG flight let alone any of the other domestic carriers anymore.

 

 

13 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

Best stay in your room.

Ooh dodgy, especially if they've used that toxic spray on the mattress to kill bedbugs....

 

[gandalf12]

2 hours ago, Psimbo said:

Based on your experiences in PNG I take it? May want to get your own house in order first. 

You really think so? Just look around to see problems. How many accidents occur at crossings over rail tracks? Yes I know they have happened in other countries but in any fixed time frame Thailand has had a lot. Think of a high speed train coming to a crossing a car is stuck on.

Anyway do you even know where PNG is, i wont ask if uou have been there as it is evident you have not.

[ratcatcher]

22 minutes ago, gandalf12 said:

You really think so? Just look around to see problems. How many accidents occur at crossings over rail tracks? Yes I know they have happened in other countries but in any fixed time frame Thailand has had a lot. Think of a high speed train coming to a crossing a car is stuck on.

Anyway do you even know where PNG is, i wont ask if uou have been there as it is evident you have not.

"Think of a high speed train coming to a crossing a car is stuck on."

HST right of way is completely separated  from traffic, pedestrians, buffaloes and the occasional chicken, by fencing, bridges, underpasses etc. It certainly won't be anything like the present system.

[gandalf12]

8 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

"Think of a high speed train coming to a crossing a car is stuck on."

HST right of way is completely separated  from traffic, pedestrians, buffaloes and the occasional chicken, by fencing, bridges, underpasses etc. It certainly won't be anything like the present system.

Hopefully not but we will have to wait and see. Be good to have a high speed train assuming the price is right

Edited September 3, 2016 by gandalf12

[swerver]

5 hours ago, mankondang said:

This project was "first initiated by the Yingluck government". Therefore, on principal alone, shouldn't the knocked dismiss it?

 

No it was NOT initiated by the Thaksin clique. The Thaksin clique changed it from going to Laos with onward highspeed rail connections into China, to Changmai ONLY.

[Torrens54]

Nice to see it hasn't been derailed.

As they say in the classics, "COME ON TRAIN" !

[jacko45k]

Makes tracks would have been a better headline.

 

Due to the distance to airports I have always hoped to see a fast, clean and efficient train service to allow me to travel around the country. Sadly I think it is too far in the future.

[Thechook]

They launched the box lunches to be served to travellers 4 years ago, it was a major event with dignitaries and lots of photos.  Those lunches must be a little off by now