Maintenance on part of Thailand's northern rail line to complete on time

BANGKOK, September 15 (TNA) - The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) has announced that its maintenance on part of the country's northern railways, starting from Monday, will be complete within 45 days as scheduled. Ensuring the public of the scheduled plan, SRT Governor Prapas Jongsanguan told reporters that the SRT will spend a budget of about 2.8 billion baht, approved by the government earlier, for the maintenance plan. Despite inconveniences during the maintenance, Prapas assessed that about 2,000 passengers who use the northern train service daily should not drop because travelling time spent by them will not much change, as the SRT has arranged 10 passenger buses, provided by the state-run Transport Company Limited to serve them from the Sila At railway station in Uttaradit province to Chiang Mai Province, with the SRT paying for the bus travel expenses for the passengers. The SRT has decided to close a stretch of its northern railways from the Sila At railway station to Chiang Mai for the 45-day maintenance, scheduled for September 16-October 31, with its total distance of over 300 kilometres for the sake of passengers' safety. (TNA)