Cabinet to consider Thai-Chinese railway designs within this month

BANGKOK, Nov 15 (TNA) -- The designs of the Thai-Chinese railway project will be proposed to the cabinet by the end of this month and the construction will begin within December, Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said. He said the State Railway of Thailand is waiting for an environmental impact assessment report for the project’s first section from the Ban Pachi train station to Nakhon Ratchasima province. The state enterprise will then propose the designs and construction plan of the first Thai-Chinese railway section for the cabinet to endorse within the end of November. The minister expects the construction of the first phase, the 3.5-kilometre-long Klang Dong-Pang Asok section, to begin in December. For the second, third and fourth phases of the Thai-Chinese railway project, their bidding contests to find contractors could start within the first quarter of next year after China sends their construction plans to Thailand, Mr Arkhom said. The second phase concerns the 11km Pak Chong-Klong Kananjit section, the third phase is the 119.5km part from Kaeng Khoi to Nakhon Ratchasima, and the fourth phase is the 119km section from Kaeng Khoi to Bang Sue. The transport minister believes the whole route of the Thai-Chinese railway from Bangkok to Nong Khai will be completed within 2022 to connect to the China-Laos railway section set to start services in the same year. He said the structures of the Thai-Chinese railway project would be funded with domestic loans and China had yet to settle the finance for its tracks and rolling stocks with Thailand. The minister also said that Thailand set up four sub-committees to facilitate the project. They will plan a special organization to supervise the railway project implementation, a research center for technology transfer, public transport services to support the new railway, and property development along the route. (TNA)