High-speed Railway To Be Built Between Chon Buri, Pattaya, Mapthaput And Suvarnabhumi Airport

[popshirt]

I thought freight was too heavy for High Speed Rail tracks?

But a regular 1 hour stress free (safe) BKK - Pattaya journey would be excellent.

I hope to see it

Even if such a rail line is built and even if it is a roaring success, one would find oneself dumped in Pattaya in a snarl of baht buses. In my experience this is a nasty introduction to third world transport. Until there are meter taxis available people such as myself will continue to drive a car to Pattaya as it is necessary to have one in order to enjoy Pattaya/Jomtien in its expanded version. The baht buses just don't make the grade; actually they are a disgrace.

[geriatrickid]

Until there are meter taxis available .........

How about if there are meter taxis where the meters are actually used and/or have not been modified.

[ratcatcher]

I think this project has more to due with prostitution in Pattaya than anything else. If Pattaya's only attraction was a buddhist temple then I think there would be no traffic. There are many beaches along that coast that don't suffer from the traffic congestion problems that Pattaya sufferes from. Get rid of the "working girls" and you won't need a high speed train.

Imagine all the tax dollars you could save. But saving those tax dollars buy getting rid of the working girls would spell doom for the city of Pattaya. Pattaya depends on them girls like fish depend on water. Without them, the city would dry up and blow away.

It would be a morality tsunami that would have the same effect on tourism that the real tsunami had a Phuket. It would be possible to fill part of the void with some morally acceptable types of entertainment but I doubt it would be enough to create the traffic problem of 20,000 cars daily in the province.

Speaking of cars traveling in a province, I'm sure there are other cities in Thailand with more than 20,000 cars traveling in their province too.

Richard, you are spot on! But I would say keep everything like it is and make U- tapao to an real international airport and allow all these "Thailandtourists" to book the real xxx- Pattaya ticket instead of the mendacious xxx- BKK one!

No High-speed Railway nor Suvarnabhumi Airport would be needed...

Prostitution, as you well know, is illegal in Thailand.

Pigs will be taking off from Swannyboom before this comes to fruition.

Enjoy Pattaya, the girls and the congestion.

Edited March 24, 2008 by ratcatcher

[Plus]

Is there any news about the high-speed railway?

How, and why, did you dig up this thread in the first place?

Here's the news for you:

Enormous cost of railway overhaul just not worth it

Last week, I wrote in support of the mass-transit project for Bangkok and vicinity as well as raised some points of concern.

Published on March 24, 2008

This week, I would like to discuss the dual-track railway project throughout the country, another urgent policy the government outlined to the House of Representatives.

In a seminar on February 25, the Transport Ministry announced the construction of a dual-track rail system to speed up cargo transportation on heavily trafficked routes. The plan involves the construction of separate 1-metre gauge (gauge is the distance between the two inner sides of the parallel rails that make up a railway track), totalling 832 kilometres.

However, in the same seminar, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej also mentioned plans to transform all railway tracks throughout the country to be 1.43-m gauge and dual-track.

With an existing 3,700 km of track in Thailand, this would mean the construction of new 1.43-m gauge track or, as a cost-saving measure, the alteration of existing track. Yet, according to experts, the project is still estimated to cost at least Bt2 trillion baht, which includes the funds needed to purchase the new rail car fleet.

This amount is massive and it requires careful consideration. From what I have heard, the wider rail track structure allows for higher speeds. Tracks of 1.43-m gauge are standard in many big countries, including China. Moving to them would facilitate the ability of trains from China to load cargo at Thai ports and vice versa for trains from Thailand delivering goods to China.

Concerning speed, 1-m gauge track can comfortably accommodate speeds of up to 200 km/hour. However, our trains are unable to reach those speeds because tracks upcountry are on ground level with intersections with roads every now and then, and running at such speeds would be dangerous.

In some countries, the use of rapid trains is made possible by the elevation of roads over railways to avoid cross-traffic and to allow the trains to run on an even plain. Unless roads were elevated over railways, widening tracks to 1.43-m gauge would not guarantee high-speed flow. And if we decide to elevate roads over railways or railways over roads throughout the country, the additional cost would be unimaginably high.

At present, tracks in our neighbouring countries - Malaysia, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - are all 1-m wide. If countries in Southeast Asia agree to link rail transportation across the region, the logistics system would soon improve.

As for the argument that 1.43-m gauge tracks would facilitate the transit of goods from China to ports in Thailand, I would like to clarify that, at present, goods from southern and southeast China are being transited to seaports in Vietnam without any tracks having been widened to 1.43 m. Containers from Chinese trains are unloaded at the border and put on to narrower Vietnamese trains, which then carry the cargo to seaports in Vietnam. This way, the Chinese have to make use of the Vietnamese rail service in order to transport their cargo in Vietnamese territory. Modern facilities are needed to ensure the swift transfer of containers.

Rail transportation of Chinese cargo to seaports in Thailand could also be done the same way. However, this would only be possible after the completion of a new railway line linking southeast China through Laos to Thailand at Chiang Khong. An exchange area for the transfer of containers could then be set up at Chiang Khong.

I have tried my very best to think of the additional benefits of widened rail tracks. I still cannot come up with any that would justify an investment as massive as Bt2 trillion.

It would be much better for us to save this amount for the younger generation. It would also not put an undue debt burden on the government budget. I am writing this article by no means to challenge the plans of the prime minister; my only purpose here is to provide constructive information for his consideration. What I mention here might not be as flawless or extensive as it should be. The one who knows more about this issue is actually a close ally of the prime minister: Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Banditkul, who worked with the State Railway of Thailand for quite a long period of time.

Prompt revision of this issue will enable the Transport Ministry to proceed immediately with its plan to expand a double-track railway of the current gauge, especially on the routes between Kaeng Khoi-Chachoengsao and Chachoengsao-Sri Racha-Laem Chabang, totalling 184 km, which the private sector is waiting for.

Until next Monday.

MR Pridiyathorn Devakula

The Nation

http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/03/24/opi...on_30068990.php

Published a day after thread resurrection.

[nothingleftbutfaith]

" Concerning speed, 1-m gauge track can comfortably accommodate speeds of up to 200 km/hour "

An absolute lie.

The maximum speed ever achieved on meter gauge track is 160 kph, and never on a commercial basis.

[Plus]

Doesn't matter. They can't run fast trains due to the number of same level road crossings. 160 kkph is eve more dangerous as it is a local pastime to try to beat the train to the crossing and every pickup can go 160.

Yesterday Samak proposed laying dual tracks only around junctions, that would save a lot of money, but would it be effective?

[Bagwan]

Doesn't matter. They can't run fast trains due to the number of same level road crossings. 160 kkph is eve more dangerous as it is a local pastime to try to beat the train to the crossing and every pickup can go 160.

Yesterday Samak proposed laying dual tracks only around junctions, that would save a lot of money, but would it be effective?

I suggest that the effect would be the same as that of the Hyde Park Corner underpass in London. It merely moved the traffic jam 400 yards down the road.

Standard gauge of 4' 8.5" (sorry, I don't do metric) does not lend itself easily to the tight bends which are necessary in hilly terrain to avoid acute inclines. Maybe somebody in power should read up the problems that the GWR (God's Wonderful Railway) had in converting from broad gauge of 7' 0.5" nearly a century ago.

China uses standard gauge whereas India has standardised on 5' 6". Problems, problems. A Thai solution would be to form several committees, argue for years about who should be on the committees, and then get a Government Minister to overrule any suggestion should one be made.

[Plus]

They have already done that, as famous cooking show host and acute chicken shopper Samak already decided how to solve dual track/different gauges problem.