Thailand, Malaysia discussed land transport connectivity

BANGKOK, Feb 22 (TNA) -- Authorities of Thailand and Malaysia had their first meeting on land transport and tourism connectivity. Daroon Saengchai, deputy permanent secretary for transport and spokesman of the Transport Ministry, said that Thailand and Malaysia discussed facilitation for the land transport of passengers and cargoes in the first meeting on their cross-border transport. In the meeting Thailand proposed a memorandum of understanding while Malaysia expressed interest in a joint venture to acquire locomotives and cargo trains for services in southern Thailand. Malaysia also proposed to increase numbers of train trips in the South. Both sides will study each other’s proposal. Thailand would study laws and regulations that could be applied to let the private sector of Malaysia improve railway services in the South and connectivity with Malaysian railways. Thai and Malaysian railway authorities launched joint Hat Yai-Padang Besar train services late last year. From Padang Besar, passengers can reach Kuala Lumpur on a high-speed train in five hours. Wuthichart Kalyanamitra, governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said that his state enterprise was using diesel locomotives for the transnational services and in the future it would develop its electric train system to connect with Malaysia’s Electric Train Service (ETS) of which trains made an average speed of 150 kilometers an hour. (TNA)