• 
• 

Published on March 24, 2008

This week, I would like to discuss the dual-track railway project throughout the country, another urgent policy the government outlined to the House of Representatives.

In a seminar on February 25, the Transport Ministry announced the construction of a dual-track rail system to speed up cargo transportation on heavily trafficked routes. The plan involves the construction of separate 1-metre gauge (gauge is the distance between the two inner sides of the parallel rails that make up a railway track), totalling 832 kilometres.

However, in the same seminar, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej also mentioned plans to transform all railway tracks throughout the country to be 1.43-m gauge and dual-track.

 With an existing 3,700 km of track in Thailand, this would mean the construction of new 1.43-m gauge track or, as a cost-saving measure, the alteration of existing track. Yet, according to experts, the project is still estimated to cost at least Bt2 trillion baht, which includes the funds needed to purchase the new rail car fleet.

This amount is massive and it requires careful consideration. From what I have heard, the wider rail track structure allows for higher speeds. Tracks of 1.43-m gauge are standard in many big countries, including China. Moving to them would facilitate the ability of trains from China to load cargo at Thai ports and vice versa for trains from Thailand delivering goods to China.

Concerning speed, 1-m gauge track can comfortably accommodate speeds of up to 200 km/hour. However, our trains are unable to reach those speeds because tracks upcountry are on ground level with intersections with roads every now and then, and running at such speeds would be dangerous.

In some countries, the use of rapid trains is made possible by the elevation of roads over railways to avoid cross-traffic and to allow the trains to run on an even plain. Unless roads were elevated over railways, widening tracks to 1.43-m gauge would not guarantee high-speed flow. And if we decide to elevate roads over railways or railways over roads throughout the country, the additional cost would be unimaginably high.

At present, tracks in our neighbouring countries - Malaysia, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - are all 1-m wide. If countries in Southeast Asia agree to link rail transportation across the region, the logistics system would soon improve.

As for the argument that 1.43-m gauge tracks would facilitate the transit of goods from China to ports in Thailand, I would like to clarify that, at present, goods from southern and southeast China are being transited to seaports in Vietnam without any tracks having been widened to 1.43 m. Containers from Chinese trains are unloaded at the border and put on to narrower Vietnamese trains, which then carry the cargo to seaports in Vietnam. This way, the Chinese have to make use of the Vietnamese rail service in order to transport their cargo in Vietnamese territory. Modern facilities are needed to ensure the swift transfer of containers.

Rail transportation of Chinese cargo to seaports in Thailand could also be done the same way. However, this would only be possible after the completion of a new railway line linking southeast China through Laos to Thailand at Chiang Khong. An exchange area for the transfer of containers could then be set up at Chiang Khong.

I have tried my very best to think of the additional benefits of widened rail tracks. I still cannot come up with any that would justify an investment as massive as Bt2 trillion.

It would be much better for us to save this amount for the younger generation. It would also not put an undue debt burden on the government budget. I am writing this article by no means to challenge the plans of the prime minister; my only purpose here is to provide constructive information for his consideration. What I mention here might not be as flawless or extensive as it should be. The one who knows more about this issue is actually a close ally of the prime minister: Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Banditkul, who worked with the State Railway of Thailand for quite a long period of time.

Prompt revision of this issue will enable the Transport Ministry to proceed immediately with its plan to expand a double-track railway of the current gauge, especially on the routes between Kaeng Khoi-Chachoengsao and Chachoengsao-Sri Racha-Laem Chabang, totalling 184 km, which the private sector is waiting for.

Until next Monday.

MR Pridiyathorn Devakula

The Nation