Improvement of Thai railway network is urgently needed
Incur transport costs Thailand 10 percent of gross domestic product, a much higher percentage than in other countries.
That is because most transport is by road. Thailand's more than 100-year-old railway network is only 4.346 kilometers long and passes through 47 of its 77 provinces. Ninety percent is single track with – even worse – a level crossing every 2 kilometers on average, which explains why train travelers experience so many delays.
If the country were able to reduce transport costs by just 1 percent, it could save 100 billion baht a year. Saritdet Murakatat, editor of opinion page Bangkok Post, makes this calculation.
The previous government earmarked 2010 million baht for track and equipment improvements in April 176,8, and supported five high-speed lines. But whether Pheu Thai will continue them is uncertain. During the election campaign, Yingluck Shinawatra made no mention of Pheu Thai's transportation plans.
One country that is concerned about this is China, which would participate in the construction of the north-south high-speed rail line. China wants to use the connection to access Southeast China and sell its technology.
Whatever it is – a slow train or a high-speed train – it is high time Thailand got serious about improving its rail network. While one road after the other is being built, the expansion of the track is going at a snail's pace.
Thai products can only survive in the long run if production costs remain low so that they are competitive in the global market. In addition to increasing productivity and improving quality, reducing transport costs should also be a priority. Triubling the double track, which is now 300 kilometers long, alone would reduce transport costs by 20 billion baht per year.
However, there is one problem with all this: the political will must be there. Building roads is more beneficial to politicians than building railways, especially those associated with road construction companies. [Lord Bommel would say: If you know what I mean.]
(Author's note: Yingluck may not have mentioned it, but on April 23, Thaksin did mention a high-speed connection between Bangkok and some major cities in his announcement [by video link] of the election manifesto.)
Indeed, a drastic expansion and improvement of the railway network in Thailand is urgently needed.
Taksin may have made many claims. During his reign he suggested several times that there should be a fast connection by train to South Thailand, preferably double track. He said the first time after the tsunami in Phuket and the riots in the 3 southern provinces. But it remained with words.
Thai railway lines also have a different width. Between a real narrow gauge and a "normal" gauge. Moreover, little maintenance is done, both on the railway lines and the equipment. Thai railways are also known for their many accidents, despite having so few kilometers of track.
One of the reasons that the Thai railway is a neglected child of the transport system is that Thailand has never had a colonial ruler. Both France and England built many railways, because they could quickly bring the products to the ports, to be made into complete products in England or France. It was an economic necessity that railways were built.
Thailand is lagging behind in this area. The equipment used to drive is also very outdated. To bring that back to a reasonable level, billions are needed and people prefer to spend them on road construction. Moreover, the bus companies and road builders are nice financiers for those who would like to earn some extra money and people do not want to let that extra income go. No wonder that hardly any politician of any party pays attention to the Railways.
A high-speed line will remain a dream. You can also see it in China. That high-speed line was one of the showpieces, but due to ignorance and haste, there was a major accident recently and the high-speed line has become a somewhat slow speed line.
Thai Railways.
As a former NS employee, I could explain how it could be done.
However, there are a few things in Thailand that hold back the improvement of the rail network, technical and economic.
To start with the technical side.
100 cm track width limits the maximum speed to 120 km/h. effective 105 km/h
Single track limits the maximum speed to 100 km/h, effectively to 80 km/h
A combination of both reduces the maximum speed to 80 km/h, and effectively to 50 km/h.
And that is precisely the average speed of the trains in Thailand.
Optimization of the superstructure, i.e. the track, the signalling, planned preventive maintenance of the rolling stock and disciplined personnel will bring this speed back up to about 70 km/h.
On the economic front, many governments see money spent on roads as an investment, while spending on rail is seen as an expense.
And that's where the shoe gets stuck.
If, as in many countries, the road transport lobby is strong, not to say powerful, then every expense is stopped or simply prevented.
An example is the railway to the airport.
The Thai governments have also conceived the unfortunate idea that privatization might be a good thing.
As the state of the Thai rail network is now, privatization is certainly not an option.
Privatization of rail companies in Europe has only brought fragmentation, higher prices, less safety and higher costs for the taxpayer.
There is only one solution for Thailand, invest in railways.
Pffff, I don't want to think about it, high speed trains in that country.
Improvements or double track seems a better option to me, and probably also a lot safer than such a monster that would go carting around at that kind of speed.
As for the train as it is now, I don't think it's wrong at all. You can stretch your legs, smoke a cigarette at the toilets, buy a beer or whatever when the train is standing still, nice and relaxed.
I always feel sorry for those guys who let themselves be crammed into a “VIP” bus like herrings in a barrel to get somewhere as quickly as possible, and in terms of safety, a lot more things happen than with the train.
@ Train travel is the most relaxed way of traveling in Thailand for me, wonderful. Then just an hour longer on the road.
Haha, me too Peter!
I'm also such a crazy person who likes to travel, I just like to travel
Another advantage of the train is that you can easily last a good while, as I said you can stretch your legs.
I never take a bus longer than about 6 hours, if my route is longer then I read in a pit stop, crazy somewhere and continue the next day…..
Long live the Thai train 🙂
My idea… I spent a lot of time on the train in Thailand this summer and I really like it. Also experienced a bus ride of 14 hours (Chiang Ria – Khon Kaen) and never again!
Hahaha, I can imagine, I would go crazy.
You can travel that way, no problem, but then I would cut the bus journey into pieces.
Let's take a look at the map and then say ok, then I'll stop there, stay there for a day or longer, and continue again, but in one go? I don't have to think about it 🙂
High-speed lines in Thailand. That idea just makes me laugh. A high-speed line would mean that train fares would multiply, which would drive the current Thai train traveler out, as they are made up of people from the lower income group. You can't get the Thai middle class out of their car with ten elephants, so they won't use the high-speed train. The viability of this project is therefore zero point zero. Thank God.
Sometimes I can't fail to comment especially when it comes to transportation costs, one of the last times I drove from pattaya to bkkaairport we passed 9 small pickups on the way that were fully loaded (neatly stacked) with pineapples. A large refrigerator combination could easily replace 30 pickups with their dirty diesel fumes… of course I also know that I will immediately get the wind from the front regarding employment etc. so be it.
Something else is the figure of mr saritdet murakatur editor opinion page bkk post, I will try to make this clear with round numbers.
The GDP in Thailand in 2009 was approximately 180 billion euros,,, according to Murakatat 10% transport costs are therefore 18 billion euros,,, according to this calculator, a saving of 1% is 180 million euros,,,for convenience times 40tbh is 7.2 billion tbh….These 7.2 billion don't go together at all with the 100 billion this man is spouting,,,
Thank you again for your article.
regards leo casino
Why is there more investment in roads than railways?
If you know that all major works in BKK and the surrounding area are carried out by the same contractor (Sino Thai) and this company has close ties with a certain politician, the choice is easily made.
This company builds airports and a huge road network, so why invest in something you have no interest in.
The same in north and certain area of Isaan where a football president is in control through his wife and father-in-law.
Thai railways will NEVER get off the ground without foreign interference.