Government is improving railways to meet ASEAN demand

BANGKOK, March 16 (TNA) -- The government is developing railways of international standard to meet growing demand in ASEAN and the Transport Ministry will lay new railway tracks on a distance of 3,000 kilometers. Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said in a conference on Thai railways at the Makkasan railway depot in Bangkok on Wednesday that Thailand intended to be the centre of all transport modes for ASEAN and the Greater Mekong Subregion and connect to Asia-Pacific, South Asia, Africa and Europe. For the vision, the Transport Ministry would seriously develop railways which offered the cheapest transport cost after water transport. It planned to increase the proportion of railway transport in all kinds of transport from 2% to 5% in 2022, Mr Arkhom said. He expected the railway development to reduce logistic costs of the country from 14% to 10-12%, which is the international level of developed countries, in eight years. The country has 4,070 kilometers of railway tracks and needs about 3,000 more kilometers. New projects would be electric trains in the greater Bangkok, one-meter-wide nationwide double track railways, and standard gauge railways to connect to other countries, Mr Arkhom said. Regarding the new railway projects, it would be possible for the country to set up train assembly and maintenance plants as well as plants to produce parts, signalling systems and train-operating software, he said. Therefore, the country should immediately invest in research and development and the production of human resources in this field, Mr Arkhom said. (TNA)