Rail project ‘could split town centre’

Agencies in Nakhon Ratchasima will petition transport authorities to review the design of a double-track railway project, which they say threatens to split their communities into two.

The 187km project, stretching from Jira in Nakhon Ratchasima to Khon Kaen, is part of the government’s plan to boost the Northeastern rail transport network, including over the border and into Laos.

The construction of the route is now 20% complete and it is expected to be finished in 2019.

Based on the route’s design, drawn up by the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP), the rail tracks will pass through the heart of Muang Nakhon Ratchasima municipality.

As the tracks will be fenced and come without crossing points, people will not be able to cross to the other side of the municipality, according to observers.

People may have to make a detour or U-turn bridges across the railway lines may be needed.

However, the rail tracks could be elevated in Muang Khon Kaen municipality, for the sake of convenience and maintaining an orderly landscape.

Surawut Cherdchai, mayor of Nakhon Ratchasima municipality, said he thanked the government for mobilising the doubletrack railway project in the province.

However, the railways planned to cut through the city would hamper the livelihoods of people on both sides of the route, he said, adding people may have to make a long detour.

Several agencies, such as the municipality, the provincial chamber of commerce and the Nakhon Ratchasima chapter of the Federation of Thai Industries, would like the OTP to review the design of the route, which should be elevated in the same way the proposed Khon Kaen railways will be, he said.

They will submit a petition to the OTP and the State Railway of Thailand this week, he said.

He said the change is needed to accommodate the movement of people between the north and south of the municipality and ease sewerage system management, he said.