Beijing eyes train deal

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Premier Wen calls for fair, open competition

Published: 22 Nov 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

China has expressed a special interest in the kingdom's high-speed train project and confirmed its intention to compete for the deal.

His Majesty the King holds an audience with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the 14th floor of the Chalerm Prakiat building at Siriraj Hospital yesterday. Mr Wen wrapped up his 24-hour visit to Thailand yesterday. Photo Courtesy of THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD BUREAU

The message was conveyed to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra by visiting Chinese premier Wen Jiabao during a meeting at Government House yesterday, Damrong Kraikruan, chief of the Foreign Ministry's East Asia Department said.

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spiceman
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Discussion 31 : 23 Nov 2012 at 04.5831
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I just want to illustrate the madness of high-speed rail vs air travel. Suppose the world is of all solid and level ground, which mode of transportations between rail and air travel will be more efficient, say between the US and Thailand? For rail, you have to build and maintain track, along with power stations or fuel depots to service the train, especially, all of who knows how many of its wheels. Today, right now, airlines are flying Boeing 777 direct from LAX to BKK or Boeing 747 & A380 from LAX to one of the Asian hubs in Japan, S Korea, or Hong Kong at a profit, that those jets spend more time in the air than on the ground.
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bluebottle
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Discussion 30 : 22 Nov 2012 at 17.1230
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Only one question who is going to pay for it and more importantly its upkeep.The 300 bht a day people seem to use the existing rail system they most certainly will not be able to afford a High speed system,That leaves the more affluent they will either fly or use there beloved private transport if in Thailand.
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crismango
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Discussion 29 : 22 Nov 2012 at 16.4729
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TGV Paris to Milan - door to door 7 hours - Cost Baht 5,000 on Eurail Pass First Class - flight door to door is 5.5 hours - Cost is Baht 13,000 - don't have to deal with security checks, relax and arrive calm and rested instead of squashed into economy on a flight and having to deal with all the hassles of airports... why does anyone fly if you can get this kind of service? Same for Shinkansen in Japan - Tokyo to Osaka - flying is a waste of time and money, cause of too much noise and actual pollution and opportunity for terrorists in disguise of TSA grunts to cause you misery at airports, take the train but not the BTS if you have balloons
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djay
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Discussion 28 : 22 Nov 2012 at 14.5328
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Here's an idea. Fix the existing rail system first.
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drsmith
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Discussion 27 : 22 Nov 2012 at 14.3227
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China already owns or controls most of the banks in Thailand. This rail benefits China in flooding Thailand with even more cheap Chinese products
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dao
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Discussion 26 : 22 Nov 2012 at 12.5326
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I think that someone else should build it as we dont seem to be up to the job .Look at our lack of education reform or the 3G fiasco .They dont need to be high speed just quality build to last for a long time .
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bkposter
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Discussion 25 : 22 Nov 2012 at 12.4925
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Re: D11....you might, but if the price of the ticket was the same as air would you? If the price of the ticket had to cover the cost of the capital investment and also the cost to operate it might well be as high as air. Having said that there could be a train that is much faster than the current dilapidated junk. It need not be state of the art, it needs to be serviceable andeconomical to build and operate.
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watchdog
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Discussion 24 : 22 Nov 2012 at 12.4024
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Khunbill - The French are certainly better than the Chinese, but they have a poor reputation when it comes to corruption (but no where as close to the Chinese). The Japanese and Koreans are improving, but the Germans - following the Siemens scandal - are now much cleaner. Corruption will be a major problem in this project, and everything possible should be done to steer it away from companies and countries with poor corruption track records. Otherwise, expect a major lose of taxpayer money and something that won't work the way it is supposed to.
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Eric
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Discussion 23 : 22 Nov 2012 at 11.3323
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At the end of the day, it will be the country that we source the loan will build the high speed train. Always string attached to such a big loan. So expect the Chinese to build.
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khunbill
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Discussion 22 : 22 Nov 2012 at 11.1122
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"touted in the chinese media already" but not in the Thai media. Sounds like the chinese think they have it in the bag.
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Beijing eyes train deal | Bangkok Post: news