Thai PM vows to further develop rail systems

BANGKOK, August 8 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says that her government will seriously develop rail transport systems further to distribute development from Bangkok to other Thai regions, as part of national preparations for the ASEAN Community (AC) by 2015. Yingluck announced the policy at a press conference on the government’s railway vision at Hua Lamphong railway terminus in Bangkok on Thursday morning, before her trip to adjacent provinces The prime minister also showed a high-speed train model of the Bangkok-Hua Hin high-speed railway project, acknowledging that rail development is now essential for Thailand, as the country had refrained from infrastructure development for decades. The prime minister pointed out that further development of rail systems will result in better train services, reduced road transport, efficient railway management, reasonable fares, public safety, the distribution of development from Bangkok to other Thai regions in the country, the transport networking between Thailand and neighbouring countries and national readiness for the formation of the AC by 2015. After the press conference, the prime minister and her delegation took a special train to a railway station in Bangkok's suburban Nakhon Pathom province, enroute for her inspection trip to adjacent Ratchaburi province. (TNA)