SRT has to prove it's worthy of Red Line

SRT has to prove it's worthy of Red Line

A construction site of the Bang Sue-Rangsit route. The SRT needs to prove its management efficiency is up to standard if it wants to run the Red Line. CHANAT KATANYU
A construction site of the Bang Sue-Rangsit route. The SRT needs to prove its management efficiency is up to standard if it wants to run the Red Line. CHANAT KATANYU

The Railway of Thailand (SRT) must convince the State Enterprises Policy Commission, the superboard, that its cost management in running the Red Line electric railway meets international standards and is comparable to the operations of Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) and Bangkok Expressway and Metro (BEM).

If the SRT wants to run the route, its operating and maintenance costs must meet the standards and be competitive with BTS and BEM, said Amnuay Preemonwong, deputy permanent finance secretary and an SRT director.

His comment came after the superboard asked the SRT to provide additional information on operational cost management and its efficiency in running the Red Line.

The proposal will go before a commission meeting chaired by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, he said, without saying when. The coming meeting has been set next month.

The SRT is also required to generate a profit from the Red Line in three years and seek no financial support if it wants to run the route.

The Finance Ministry earlier dismissed the SRT's request for subsidies of 5.6 billion baht to operate the Red Line for the first five years.

The 41-kilometre Red Line electric train with investment of 75.5 billion baht has two sections -- Taling Chan to Bang Sue and Bang Sue to Rangsit. The government hopes that the Bang Sue-Rangsit route will help alleviate traffic for commuters travelling from the outskirts of the city to inner Bangkok.

The SRT is one of the seven loss-making state enterprises the superboard have required to undertake business rehabilitation. Gen Prayut last week invoked Section 44 of the interim charter to remove the governor and entire board of the SRT, citing the need to improve the SRT's management.

Meanwhile, Ekniti Nitithanprapas, director-general of the State Enterprise Policy Office, said the superboard has assigned deputy transport minister Pichit Akrathit to consider whether the SRT should run the Red Line. He insists the superboard has not given the SRT the green light to run the electric route.

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