High speed train Bangkok - Korat 500 baht/one hour 17 minutes - "no way will it fail"

[tezzainthailand]

9 hours ago, Dave67 said:

I would say for it to "Not fail" they would have to develop Khorat quite a bit to make it a nicer place to live 

Yep, Khorat is a pretty average Isaan city, Udon has more going for it, a medium sized city, traffic that is manageable, one hour to Bangkok (by air), great food and decent bars and so close to Laos (for Visa duties).  Nong Khai, if you like the quiet life has the attraction of being even closer to Laos and a 50 minute drive to Udon (for a more vibrant nightlife and the air connection to the capital).  Ubon, closer in size to Khorat is well laid out, has a nice feel about it and like Udon has a one hour plane connection to Bangkok.  So yes, Khorat needs a quicker connection to Bangkok and something to make it more appealing, and more freaking shopping malls is not the answer, that only invites more bloody traffic.

[overherebc]

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

In the German high speed train crash there were no survivors if i remember rightly, came of the track due to a broken wheel rim and hit a bridge at 240kmh

It was a new design of wheel with a rubber insert bonded in that seperated at high revs.

Not used anymore.

 

Sent from the Wheel tappers and shunters club by pidgeon.

[tezzainthailand]

50 minutes ago, novo58 said:

Ill believe this when I see the first train leave the station ( and arrive safely  at its destination). In way of comparison ......they have been talking about building a high speed train link between Sydney and Melbourne ( via Canberra) in Australia for over 15 years that I know of ....and still havent acquired the land for it .

 

Anyone thought about how long it will take to actually build this thing..................

If you go to the Albury (New South Wales) library you will find a bible sized book on the feasibility studies of constructing a HSR from Melbourne to Sydney.  Sadly there is no political will in Aus to build it, right now Australia is on a high speed course back to the 1950's, and all the negativities associated with that mentality is crushing any idea of a HSR in the land down under.  I'm more likely to believe that Thailand will build a HSR before Australia.  Bangkok in 20 years has built its MRT, its BTS and the rail connection to Suvarnhabhumi.  Go to Melbourne and you will travel on a 1960's style suburban rail network with gestapo like officers checking if your MYKI card* is up to scratch.  Such a great experience, I recommend it.

 

*MYKI card - a card that demands you pay $10 upfront before you have even used it, and then touch on and off at every embarkation/disembarkation .

[Tom Cahill]

9 hours ago, madmitch said:

They're going to need a lot of 500 baht passengers to recoup their investment. Similar railways in other parts of the world charge many multiples of that amount.

 

 

I've worked on railways and metros in both the UK and in Malaysia & Thailand.
Whilst there's a stealathon going on in S.E. Asia where it comes to such projects,  they pale into insignificance when compared to the Freemasonic boondoggle which is the UK's rail system,  where everything costs several-thousand-percent more than it needs to.  I can't speak for other countries in the West through experience,  but if the Masons are finding a way to keep tens' of thousands of their members in work,  doing absolutely nothing in the UK,  then this surely means that they'll be doing this in all other countries where they're parasiting---which will at least be the case in Western Europe.

I have been on metros in less Mason-infested countries---Prague,  for instance---and the ticket was so cheap,  it was virtually free.

If you have a train line going through a load of open countryside on underdeveloped previous networks,  brown and greenfield sites,  you'll find that it's a lot harder to steal money at such an alarming rate,  as there's less excuses for these costs and what's being laid down will be there for all to see,  and for those who care,  the equipment can be looked up online and so it's a lot harder to justify the  'One for you ninety-nine for me'  cost-to-mark up ratio,  in terms of what gets put in the ground and what you steal.

Korat's link to BK is all about supply of poor people to do poorly paid jobs,  in terms of volume.  They could run a load of trains per day and all in all,  due to the paupers' snack consumption,  this would be a very affordable ticket price as they will spend a day's wages on snacks per two hours,  so whilst seemingly counter-intuitive,  the poorer people actually benefit from what to a normal society's person would seem like a totally extravagant express service.

 

[Golden Triangle]

38 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

I remember my last journey on the BKK to Korat line, 3rd class, wooden seats, hardly any fans working, Doors and windows that didn't close, absolutely marvelous, plus as we went around the huge reservoir a humongous storm blew in over the water, it came sideways through the carriage I kid you not, the bird I was with at the time (well over 7 or 8 years ago)   had to go and hide in the toilet to stay dry. I will really miss the old SRT when it has been sanitized and everything is A/C, no open windows and no sitting on the steps of the open doors or at the back of the train having a crafty smoke. Happy days.   

I just remembered this, typical Brit, train pulls into Korat station, GT & bird in tow climb the steps of the footbridge lugging our cases behind us, just on the steps down and the train pulls out, all the Thais that were on the train just walked across the tracks and out of the station, no effort involved, what a Muppet   

[chickenrunCM]

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I may be the voice of dissent on this thread. Even though the costs being quoted for building this high speed train are exorbitant, I believe that high tech transportation can only be a good thing for Thailand, in the long term. Imagine the country laced with numerous high speed routes? It would transform the nation. 

 

Of course, competitive bidding is always a good thing. I am certain this can be built for far less than the 700,000,000 baht per kilometer, that they are currently being quoted by the Chinese contractor. A totally non competitive, closed bid. Typical Little P. - always working tirelessly for the good of the people, without any outside considerations, to sway his brilliant, visionary and considerable mind. 

??? you can do your math, how it can be good for Thailand?

Korat has 160.000 people. if 10% will use it once a year it would be a sucess but it would not even be enough

for the running costs, you would need about 8000000 tickets to sell to cover the cost over 20 years .

it would be the same to built a airport on Koh Phi Phi, no chance to reach black numbers

 

[Catkiwi]

10 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

              "no way will it fail"

 

 

                " UNSINKABLE "

Oh you bunch of nay sayers! There are no ice burgs between BKK & Korat!

[akaika]

Lots of good comments and even the ones with the Titanic picture are entertaining.  But the facts seem that this could be an accurate statement.  High speed trains in other countries in Asia have had initial costs in this range.  Japan is the only country that engineered high speed rails independently.  Korea included engineering assistance from French companies and some German companies.  Taiwan uses Japanese technology.
 

A German company provides much of the rail engineering work already in Thailand.  They have always been eager to move faster.  The least expensive high speed rail in Asia is Taiwan.  The cost for a similar length/duration trip is about 900 baht - 1200 baht depending on the express nature of the train.  This is after they have had many price increases over the 15 years of operation.  In Japan,  prices are very competitive when you consider the time aspect.  In other words, airport check-in time and boarding time.  And when time is money, this matters.  Same can be said for Korea.

 

In Thailand however, the industrial nature does not seem to support the need for this much travel at high speed.  So I would still say I am skeptical as to how well this might work initially.  It will be interesting to watch it develop though...

[chickenrunCM]

1 hour ago, aslimversgwm said:

Exactly. I am looking forward to a multitude of HS  railways all across Thailand. One of the best things this government has pursued. Glad section 44 is being used in this particular regard. The Chinese have an admirable record with their own country's network so I am confident it will be both safe and reliable. Well done Thailand. 

yes it is great not to look in prices, environment or laws, just decide how you think, this is the best way to lead a country like a dictator.

how anybody educated can write it is good for Thailand, 80% of the money will end in curruption payments and I don´t know how many environment they will destroy and how many people will loose their land

[Catkiwi]

56 minutes ago, Dave67 said:

Apparently 2019 .Depends where they are with Survey and planned route alignment design . How many tunnels , and length of Viaducts , land Viaduct and areas of Track formation do they need, Also 250km railway is 500km+ Track which with requires a rate of 1.4km a day to complete in a year. You would probably need 6 work fronts doing around 250m a day which is going some. Depending on what track system is used you would need anything from 150 to 50 workers per site , probably a nightshift as well. Thats just the Track still need Civils , Signalling and Power to install

Dear Dave67,

Your application for project manager for the high speed rail link has been succesful.

Yours,

General P.

 

 

[chickenrunCM]

4 hours ago, Dave67 said:

Because the Railway will fail if it relies on Tourists and people popping in and out of Bangkok or the other way round. What it needs is a regular flow of daily commuters. For that to happen Korat needs to be a viable place for people who work in Bangkok and surrounding area to live.

so you live in Korat and you work in Bkk andd you pay 22.000 thb for your way to work every month? cheaper to buy a 5 bedroom house in Bkk. This project will not cover 5% of their costs, it´s only a big corruption generating project.

[Catkiwi]

3 minutes ago, chickenrunCM said:

yes it is great not to look in prices, environment or laws, just decide how you think, this is the best way to lead a country like a dictator.

how anybody educated can write it is good for Thailand, 80% of the money will end in curruption payments and I don´t know how many environment they will destroy and how many people will loose their land

Jeez, break out the violins! Any one else would call it progress with development of a devloping country. Like it or not, Thailand needs to keep pace with infrastructure and all other facets of modernisation to be viable trade partners on the world stage!

[Foozool]

Do regularly maintainace on BTS and airport link. Don't need fast disaster train.

[Dave67]

6 minutes ago, Catkiwi said:

Dear Dave67,

Your application for project manager for the high speed rail link has been succesful.

Yours,

General P.

 

 

Thanks , But already have a job on Doha Metro,  

[Catkiwi]

Just now, Dave67 said:

Thanks , But already have a job on Doha Metro,  

Best you stay there son. Take care out there!

[Dave67]

7 minutes ago, chickenrunCM said:

so you live in Korat and you work in Bkk andd you pay 22.000 thb for your way to work every month? cheaper to buy a 5 bedroom house in Bkk. This project will not cover 5% of their costs, it´s only a big corruption generating project.

If you got a monthly or yearly ticket the price would be well below 1000bt return , long term customers is what they need

[chickenrunCM]

and nobody knows how many people are going ever day from Korat to Bkk and the other direction, i guess if this figures will come out, this project would look a little bit more crazy. In Munic they voted against high speed train, because of the high costs, which have been for sure lower than the great chinese offer with no any competitors. And there more than 2.500.000 could use the train. What would be the Thai numbers? 100.000?

 

[InMyShadow]

This service would have boomed Pattaya to isaan judging by the amount of expats married hookers.

[ratcatcher]

5 hours ago, DieterWiehe said:

wait if it hits the first Elephant herd in the national park  

Which National Park?

[oldlakey]

11 hours ago, darksidedog said:

"There is no way that the high speed train will fail," he said.

Famous last words.

High speed trains require a level of precision in the engineering that allows no margin of error. What I have seen here in just about every aspect of the countries infrastructure, does not aspire me to believe that such precision is realistic. I don't see me risking my neck on it.

Then of course when you add the human factor in  well ...........

[madusa]

12 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

              "no way will it fail"

 

 

                " UNSINKABLE "

Nice picture you have there, I believe there is something not quite right with this picture, that night the Titanic sank was quite a dark cold night, nothing as bright as the picture you pose here.

Oh, perhaps you know, is there a new train from Hatyai to Bangkok? And how many hours it takes? Is the air-condition very cold. In Malaysia the new train from KL to Butterworth was so cold, it was like a refrigerated meat train. I had to wear jumper. I will be obliged for the answer. I will be travelling from Hatyai to Bangkok probably next month.

[The Deerhunter]

10 hours ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

 

That's German support and engineering. 

 

 

Yes but it will not be German......

 

 Thereby hangeth MY problem.

[ratcatcher]

7 minutes ago, madusa said:

Nice picture you have there, I believe there is something not quite right with this picture, that night the Titanic sank was quite a dark cold night, nothing as bright as the picture you pose here.

Oh, perhaps you know, is there a new train from Hatyai to Bangkok? And how many hours it takes? Is the air-condition very cold. In Malaysia the new train from KL to Butterworth was so cold, it was like a refrigerated meat train. I had to wear jumper. I will be obliged for the answer. I will be travelling from Hatyai to Bangkok probably next month.

Thank you for your astute comments re the Titanic picture.What you see there is commonly referred to as "artistic license". Unfortunately on the night of the sinking - 15th April 1912-, the ships photographer left his digital camera in his cabin in the panic.

As to your other questions, you may direct them to SRT. here:http://www.thairailways.com/info.srt-contact.html

You will probably know all about train temperatures by the time you wish to travel. Good luck and pack a jumper just in case.

Edited June 28, 2017 by ratcatcher

[ratcatcher]

1 hour ago, Catkiwi said:

Oh you bunch of nay sayers! There are no ice burgs between BKK & Korat!

 

On the offchance you are being humorous, I asume that I and 30 other "naysayers' are wrong and somewhat naive..

My point was simply this:

Had the official made a statement along these lines " The government is strongly backing the development of a HST system and sincerely hope it will be a big success ".........,.might have had a bit more credibility.

Saying "It CANNOT Fail" is thoughtless and extremely arrogant, hence the comparison with TIT anic.

[ratcatcher]

1 hour ago, InMyShadow said:

This service would have boomed Pattaya to isaan judging by the amount of expats married hookers.

"...would have boomed Pattaya"......

Perhaps it might be more accurate to say boom-boomed? 

[madusa]

28 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

Thank you for your astute comments re the Titanic picture.What you see there is commonly referred to as "artistic license". Unfortunately on the night of the sinking - 15th April 1912-, the ships photographer left his digital camera in his cabin in the panic.

As to your other questions, you may direct them to SRT. here:http://www.thairailways.com/info.srt-contact.html

You will probably know all about train temperatures by the time you wish to travel. Good luck and pack a jumper just in case.

Thanks for the prompt reply. A bit more on the Titanic, it was not supposed to sink because the ship was compartmentalized, so the sea water should only filled up one compartment. But Titanic didn't have the compartment completed right up to the top so it flowed into the next compartment. There were gaps at the top. When the front all filled up with the sea water the weight broke the ship in half, with the tail end sticking up.

Why is everyone bashing Thailand train service?

Is it really that bad, many trains go off the track or what? From my limited train rides in Thailand (years back) I think it was pretty good though it was kind of slow like everything in Thailand, even the language spoken is slow, does anyone notice that? The Thais speak slowly unlike the italian or french or worse the spanish. Look at the dance it is like a slow motion automation robot. They sing song so slowly it irritates me. Once again thanks for the information you sent kind of you. I may call them.

[oldlakey]

6 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

"...would have boomed Pattaya"......

Perhaps it might be more accurate to say boom-boomed? 

Sleeping compartments are at a premium, especially the bottom compartment

[retarius]

It's too cheap. No way to make any profit and no money in the kitty for maintenance. Japan examines every mile of the Shinkansen track every night. See that happening in Thailand? I don't and sorry to be a Cassandra, but if the lines are not maintained there will inevitably be an accident.

[NCC1701A]

Thailand has no modern emergency services to speak of. They could not even begin to deal with this. Watch.

 

Edited June 28, 2017 by NCC1701A

[Tofer]

12 hours ago, MichaelJohn said:

Yes, it's good value but ..... when you need a car in Korat you'll drive and I guess most people will not be doing business near the station.

 

You may need a car in Korat but certainly not in Bangkok. Anybody wishing to drive unnecessarily in Bangkok needs their head testing.