State Railway of Thailand to undertake ambitious development project

The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) is on the verge of an ambitious THB16.5 billion (USD511 million) development project that will take the country's rail infrastructure into the 21st century and set it up for gradual privatisation.

Included in the plans is the expansion of Bangkok's elevated rail network, the construction of crucial links from ports to major cities, the modernisation of its predominately single-track lines to high-capacity double-track lines, and the improvement of connections between neighbouring countries.

The end result will see Thailand possess a modern railway network that would support a government-backed push to increase railroad freight, assist in easing the chronic traffic congestion on Bangkok roads, and be an integral part of the USD15 billion, 3,000 mile Trans-Asia Railway Network, which was agreed last November between 28 countries in the region.

The new Thai rail network would also provide the future Thai government with an opportunity to privatise the railways, much like the Conservative government did to the UK's British Rail in 1996. (The Thai plans do not envisage an overnight privatisation of the railways, however, but more of a gradual project over a number of years as infrastructure becomes more developed.)

If all this planned development wasn't ambitious enough in itself, it is being carried out against a challenging backdrop. Thailand is a few months away from controversial elections, following the military coup last year that ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra; and the strategic situation in the south of the country, where SRT property has been a target of insurgents, poses regular issues for the state railway.

Nakorn Chantasorn, deputy governor at the SRT, is well aware of the challenges that the state-controlled organisation faces in its efforts to modernise, but is determined to succeed.

He says: "Right now in Thailand, 88 per cent of all freight transport is by road - freight rail transport accounts for only 2.8 per cent. And the high increase in oil prices has caused everyone to think about how to shift the mode of transport to rail from road. So we have a target from the government: we need to increase freight rail by 15 per cent in five years - that's more than five times what it is now. At SRT, we have to make this possible."

Another significant factor in Thailand's decision to modernise its railways is the proportionally high rate of energy being used on Thailand's roads - 38 per cent of all Thailand's fuel goes into cars, which is nearly double the comparative figure for the US. 422 of 1,276 words