B358bn rail projects expected to go ahead

Four electric routes to ‘kick off this year’

Construction of four electric rail routes in the capital at a cost of 358 billion baht will kick off this year, said Peraphon Thawornsupacharoen, deputy permanent secretary for transport. The four lines are the 34.5-km Pink Line (Khae Rai-Min Buri) worth 54 billion baht; the 30.4-km Yellow Line (Lat PhraoSamrong) valued at 52 billion baht; the 16.4-km western Orange Line (Thailand Cultural Centre-Taling Chan) costing 121 billion baht; and the 23.6-km southern Purple Line (Tao Poon-Rat Burana) worth 131 billion baht. Mr Peraphon said the ministry was waiting for a conclusion on the Pink and Yellow lines’ contracts detailing railway extensions from the Office of the AttorneyGeneral and a committee set up under Section 35 of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Act. The two projects will be forwarded to the cabinet for approval this month in order to sign the contracts in June, and start construction in July. The construction of both lines will take about three years, Mr Peraphon said. As for the western Orange and the southern Purple lines, the ministry will seek cabinet approval for both projects in June, he said. The western Orange Line is now under the scrutiny of the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP) before the project details are forwarded to the ministry and the cabinet, respectively. The OTP is now summarising details of the southern Purple Line which will also go through the same process. After receiving approval from the cabinet, the ministry will hold bidding for the construction of both rail routes with a goal of starting construction in November. Mr Peraphon said the National Economic and Social Development Board asked the ministry to propose details of the railway projects to the State Enterprise Policy Office for consideration before proposing them to the cabinet. Details of rail route construction and operation under a PPP scheme must be proposed simultaneously for approval. Mr Peraphon said the new practice will be first implemented with three railway routes. They are the Blue Line extension connecting Bang Khae and Buddha Monthon Sai 4 and the two Green Line elevated routes — the one linking Bangkok’s Mor Chit and Saphan Mai with Khu Khot in Pathum Thani’s Lam Luk Ka district, and the other linking Soi Bearing and Samut Prakan. Meanwhile, State Railway of Thailand (SRT) acting governor, Anon Luangboriboon, said a revised feasibility study on the Thai-Chinese high-speed railway project, linking Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima, is expected to be put to the SRT board on Monday. The study on the 252.5-km rail track worth 179 billion baht is almost complete, he said. After the board’s approval, the study will be submitted to the Transport Ministry for consideration. The original feasibility study the SRT submitted to the Transport Ministry was knocked back. The ministry ordered the revision as the original lacked details about financial implications if passenger targets are not met. Mr Anon said the SRT has added necessary information concerning the effects on the project in various situations including what happens if the number of passengers is 10% or 20% lower than the target.