It used to be the pride of the Kingdom of Siam during the reign of King Rama V some hundred years ago. However today, Thai Railways are one of the worst public transport services in Thailand. This blunt statement comes from Prapat Chongsanguan, new Governor of the State Railway of Thailand.
BANGKOK- In an exclusive interview to Thailand’s daily Bangkok Post, Prapat Chongsanguan, freshly appointed Governor of the SRT, the State Railway of Thailand, is not hiding facts that the train company is today one of the worst public services provided in the country. Train services have not been modernized for at least 30 years and service has consequently deteriorated. Trains are often delayed by many hours without any explanation. Technical failures are permanent. And when trains properly work, they are extremely slow, circulating at an average speed of 70 km/h. To be blamed is a network consisted of single-track rail lines, which force trains to wait at station until another train convoy is passed….
The new Governor blames the sorrow state of the railways to years of under-investment, due the company’s high level of debts. They reach some THB 70 billion( US$ 2.3 billion)! Successive governments refused to raise fares for populist reasons. But they consequently jeopardized any modernization attempt.
Mr. Chongsanguan wants to now fix problems. He promises to reduce the level of debts and at the same time speed up the modernization of the train system. First results of those improvements should be visible in six months times, he declared to the Bangkok Post. SRT received a boost from the government which approved a budget of THB 176 billion (US$ 5.8 billion) to the State Railway modernisation.
Among the planned investments are the delivery of new locomotives and coaches with suppliers being selected through bidding in 2013. Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra reiterated recently at a business forum venue in London that the State remains committed to improve the Kingdom’s infrastructure.
They include the conversion of 2,700 km of single-track into double-track lines within 15 years-only 280 km of rails are today double-track-. Bangkok will see 450 km of electric train lines while four high speed railway lines would link Thailand to the North, to Laos and Vietnam as well as to Malaysia and Singapore.
Mr. Chongsanguan promised that he would not raise fares as long as standard of services has not significantly improved.
SRT railway operations nationwide total 4,363 kilometers of rails, including 3,755km of single track, 173km of double tracks and 107km of triple tracks.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
