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

[Laab Muu]

They have released footage of testing already (shown below), it only cost B1 billion for the tests.

 

 

[sandrabbit]

7 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

Believe it or not, you could actually travel from Don Muang SRT station down to the Y junction with tracks that lead under the Airport Rail Link station at Phaya Thai, and proceed eastward past the Makkasan railway yards under the ARL all the way out past Swampy and Lat Krabang to Chachoengsao Jct and then south to Pattaya and beyond to Rayong and Map Tha Put  and Utapao airport. All the R.O.W.(Right of Way) is in place, having been built years ago by SRT. Now when the dreamers and schemers talk HST, this is conveniently forgotten. Land aquisition is often the most costly aspect of building a railway. As I said in an earlier post, the elevated ARL line is halfway there at Swampy, just extend it down the eastern seaboard. 

and all the way to Trat stopping at Rayong, Ban Phe, Klaeng, Chantaburi then Trat.

[Dave67]

14 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

Believe it or not, you could actually travel from Don Muang SRT station down to the Y junction with tracks that lead under the Airport Rail Link station at Phaya Thai, and proceed eastward past the Makkasan railway yards under the ARL all the way out past Swampy and Lat Krabang to Chachoengsao Jct and then south to Pattaya and beyond to Rayong and Map Tha Put  and Utapao airport. All the R.O.W.(Right of Way) is in place, having been built years ago by SRT. Now when the dreamers and schemers talk HST, this is conveniently forgotten. Land aquisition is often the most costly aspect of building a railway. As I said in an earlier post, the elevated ARL line is halfway there at Swampy, just extend it down the eastern seaboard. 

I went to swampy yesterday , they have done and are planting viaduct piers parallel to the road directly in to the airport and turning off toward the existing railway viaduct. There was also a Lauchung gantry being set up almost underneath the existing railway viaduct. Not sure if its a new road going over the railway viaduct or a branch railway line going into the airport

[jimster]

On 6/28/2017 at 8:33 AM, worgeordie said:

No way will it fail,! unless they put really secure gates at all crossings,were

people on motorbikes and trucks cannot go around or even under.

regards worgeordie

Well obviously they'll be putting secure gates at all crossings - although most likely there won't even be any actual crossings because bridges and tunnels will be built in those places. Actually, not only that but there will be fencing on both sides of the track throughout it's entire length. Where necessary, bridges and tunnels will be built depending on the terrain. This is a Chinese project, so everything will look like the HS trains in China.

[Laab Muu]

14 minutes ago, jimster said:

Actually, not only that but there will be fencing on both sides of the track throughout it's entire length. Where necessary, bridges and tunnels will be built depending on the terrain. This is a Chinese project, so everything will look like the HS trains in China.

Hopefully not.

 

 

[jimster]

8 minutes ago, Laab Muu said:

Hopefully not.

 

 

Not sure of your point but this project is called the "Thai-Chinese High-Speed Railway Project" and has been in the news since at least 2011 if not earlier. It's a Chinese project, period.

[bluesofa]

25 minutes ago, jimster said:

Well obviously they'll be putting secure gates at all crossings - although most likely there won't even be any actual crossings because bridges and tunnels will be built in those places. Actually, not only that but there will be fencing on both sides of the track throughout it's entire length. Where necessary, bridges and tunnels will be built depending on the terrain. This is a Chinese project, so everything will look like the HS trains in China.

Just to clarify, regarding the bridges and tunnels.

Does this refer to bridges and tunnels on the railway track, or on the roads that the railway crosses?

[Cadbury]

13 minutes ago, jimster said:

This is a Chinese project, so everything will look like the HS trains in China

Yes it is a Chinese project but the worrying part is that Chinese engineers and architects have to be trained and certified and licenced by their Thai engineering counterparts.

Are these are the same Thai engineers who have only ever built extremely slow trains running at 70km/hr and are now expected to teach the Chinese how to build HS trains that travel up to 270km/hr?

From an earlier story:

Chinese architects working on the railway project in Thailand should be trained and tested in 3 areas; architectural engineering, technology and collaboration. 

 

The same old Thai nationalistic philosophy. We are the best and know everything......... as exampled by their leader.

 

[jimster]

3 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Just to clarify, regarding the bridges and tunnels.

Does this refer to bridges and tunnels on the railway track, or on the roads that the railway crosses?

Probably both. if you want to learn more, go to Youtube and find some videos on the China-Lao high-speed railway, which links up with the Thai section and is already under construction. Laos is mountainous and as such more than half of the entire project length between the border at Boten and Vientiane will consist of tunnels and bridges. The Thai side is mostly flat, except the section from Pakchong down to Saraburi over the Phanom Dongrak mountains but that's a minor slope compared to anything in Laos or on the Chinese side.

[jimster]

4 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Yes it is a Chinese project but the worrying part is that Chinese engineers and architects have to be trained and certified and licenced by their Thai engineering counterparts.

Are these are the same Thai engineers who have only ever built extremely slow trains running at 70km/hr and are now expected to teach the Chinese how to build HS trains that travel up to 270km/hr?

From an earlier story:

Chinese architects working on the railway project in Thailand should be trained and tested in 3 areas; architectural engineering, technology and collaboration. 

 

The same old Thai nationalistic philosophy. We are the best and know everything......... as exampled by their leader.

 

Actually it was on the news just in the last few days that this licensing may be bypassed in the case of this project using S44. Anyway, this sort of thing keeps going back and forth so if they've changed the requirements in the last couple of days I wouldn't be surprised.

 

Anyway, whatever requirements need to be met for the Chinese engineers to practice here, make no mistake, the Chinese will be teaching the Thais, not the other way round.

[worgeordie]

37 minutes ago, jimster said:

Well obviously they'll be putting secure gates at all crossings - although most likely there won't even be any actual crossings because bridges and tunnels will be built in those places. Actually, not only that but there will be fencing on both sides of the track throughout it's entire length. Where necessary, bridges and tunnels will be built depending on the terrain. This is a Chinese project, so everything will look like the HS trains in China.

That does not sound like the way things are done in Thailand,maybe you assume too much.

regards Worgeordie

[jimster]

Just now, worgeordie said:

That does not sound like the way things are done in Thailand,maybe you assume too much.

regards Worgeordie

I'm not making any assumptions. I've been reading about this project since it was first announced in 2011 (maybe it was announced earlier but in any case that's 6 years) and since this is a Chinese project, they'll be doing things the Chinese way. Do you really think the Chinese will allow the Thais to do things their way? You are very naive my friend.

[jimster]

Also, this isn't just some ordinary train project. It's something that has never existed in Thailand before.

[worgeordie]

2 minutes ago, jimster said:

Also, this isn't just some ordinary train project. It's something that has never existed in Thailand before.

I never knew that 

regards Worgeordie

[kannot]

On 6/28/2017 at 2:33 AM, worgeordie said:

No way will it fail,! unless they put really secure gates at all crossings,were

people on motorbikes and trucks cannot go around or even under.

regards worgeordie

There  will be none  by the  looks  of  it, by me they have already started  building bridges over the lines in advance.............that wont stop somchai <deleted> maybe driving over the side of the bridge  though

[CLW]

I'm a big fan of travelling by train but as I mentioned earlier I don't think a high speed train is necessary better upgrade the entire rail network to a modern standard first and then move on with advanced technology.
Would be if you built a super highway across the USA but the other roads are still dirt tracks.
Anyway I hope in the future I can enter the train from Bangkok to Kunming etc...

[kannot]

On 6/28/2017 at 7:49 AM, Dave67 said:

If track is on Ground formation they will have to build a fence at the threshold of railway property to keep animals and people out. Its usually classed as Trespassing if someone goes over, under or through the fence

which youll see round  near hua  hin and it continues farther south too........... they have also thrown off squatters on the land either side of the rails by quite a distance

[Marley01]

Volunteers wanted for the first high speed run.

[Ricardo]

10 minutes ago, CLW said:

Anyway I hope in the future I can enter the train from Bangkok to Kunming etc...

 

That would be a fun trip, but thus far I haven't actually seen anywhere that passenger-trains will be running beyond Isaan, let alone beyond Laos ?

 

 

[kannot]

2 minutes ago, Marley01 said:

Volunteers wanted for the first high speed run.

maybe safer to lay across the tracks

[mike324]

low cost airline works because there are so many tourists....but how many tourist goes to korat but if it stops in korat on the way to chiang mai, then yea its fine.

 

But I would build the pattaya / rayong line first if I was looking to make money and help out the economy as there are a lot of tourist and factories that way.

[Laab Muu]

4 hours ago, jimster said:

Not sure of your point but this project is called the "Thai-Chinese High-Speed Railway Project" and has been in the news since at least 2011 if not earlier. It's a Chinese project, period.

The point is, that is what a Chinese High Speed Train looked like in 2011. I hope it doesn't end up looking like that in Thailand.

[oldhippy]

I love to travel by train.

Whenever I have the choice between train, car, airplane, I will choose the train.

 

More precisely: I will choose the slow train.

No stress: if I miss my train, I will take the next one.

Plenty of stopovers possible.

 

High speed trains (f ex the TGV in France) cause stress and loss of time:

You need to book in advance and have to allow extra time for possible delays on the way to the station, and for checking in. Delays on the road, delays on the connecting slow train.

High speed trains do not (as far as I know) do night runs - what is faster / more comfortable than boarding a train in the evening and arriving in the morning?

 

I love to travel by train.

But high speed trains have the same disadvantages as airplanes, and they are slower.

And no, high speed tracks can not be used for slow trains as complement.

 

 

 

 

 

[JAG]

Bangkok , Saruburi- Ayutthaya- Korat apparently, seems a bit of a round about route

We can call it the Great Way Round -
GWR. Paint the locomotives Brunswick Green and the carriages chocolate and cream....
Jobs a good'un as Brunel might have said.
:)

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed as well as the reply. 

[CLW]

I love to travel by train.
Whenever I have the choice between train, car, airplane, I will choose the train.
 
More precisely: I will choose the slow train.
No stress: if I miss my train, I will take the next one.
Plenty of stopovers possible.
 
High speed trains (f ex the TGV in France) cause stress and loss of time:
You need to book in advance and have to allow extra time for possible delays on the way to the station, and for checking in. Delays on the road, delays on the connecting slow train.
High speed trains do not (as far as I know) do night runs - what is faster / more comfortable than boarding a train in the evening and arriving in the morning?
 
I love to travel by train.
But high speed trains have the same disadvantages as airplanes, and they are slower.
And no, high speed tracks can not be used for slow trains as complement.
 
 
 
 
 

Some sidemarks:
For example ICE in Germany you can board without​ reservation, even buy the ticket onboard.
Some HS connections in China run every 30 minutes so if you miss one train just take the next.
So sad the night trains are mostly cancelled (except Asia) due to competition of bus and low-cost flights.
I love travelling by train and would always prefer train over bus and even sometimes flight.
China (and probably India) is the new "heaven" for train travellers [emoji4]

[observer90210]

19 minutes ago, CLW said:

Some sidemarks:
For example ICE in Germany you can board without reservation, even buy the ticket onboard.
Some HS connections in China run every 30 minutes so if you miss one train just take the next.
So sad the night trains are mostly cancelled (except Asia) due to competition of bus and low-cost flights.
I love travelling by train and would always prefer train over bus and even sometimes flight.
China (and probably India) is the new "heaven" for train travellers

I guess every train lovers dream would be to board once the Orient Express and unless mistaken the latest route is London-Paris-Istambul-Venice, naturally not at supersonic speed!..and for a hefty price tag!!...But should be worth the trip one day, if,  and when things chill down a bit in Turkey!

[CLW]

I guess every train lovers dream would be to board once the Orient Express and unless mistaken the latest route is London-Paris-Istambul-Venice.hing.naturally not at supersonic speed!..and for a hefty price tag!!...but should be worth the trip one day, if,  and when things chill down a bit in Turkey!

Or travelling from Europe to Asia by train. If there weren't so many visa you have to manage...

[observer90210]

14 minutes ago, CLW said:

Or travelling from Europe to Asia by train. If there weren't so many visa you have to manage...

would be quite a hassle!

[oldhippy]

As for the indeed frequent ICE trains in Germany:

Yes you can buy your ticket on the spot, but bring a fat wallet with you.... as the on the spot prices are multiple times the advance booking fare - just like they are for flights.

But that's marketing...

 

Ah the joys of slow trains! I travelled through Europe the year Interrail was introduced - must have been 1970 or so. Discovered Norway and went back every year after until now.