Transport giants seek slice of cake

French railway and urban transport firms are eager to join the bidding for the mass-transit train projects, encouraged by the government's public-private partnership (PPP) initiative.

The PPP concept, which is under the consideration of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), is expected to be applied to the Purple Line, linking Bang Yai and Bang Sue, as the pilot project.

Participating in the railway and urban transport symposium hosted by the French Embassy yesterday were leading French firms such as Alstom, Systra, Dextra, Alcatel-Lucent, Thales group, and SNCF International.

Alstom, a supplier of complete railway transport systems with rolling stock, signalling and tracks, is expected to compete with rivals such as Siemens from Germany and Bombardier from the UK in bidding for the Purple Line and future electric-train projects.

Simon Charlesworth, vice president of Alstom for business development in Asia-Australasia, said that the company is interested in bidding for all mass transit lines, but especially the Purple Line.

"We need to find good Thai companies to become our partner," he said while declining to elaborate.

The 23-kilometre Purple Line's first contract for civil engineering works was won by leading local contractor Ch Karnchang.

The final price is under negotiation and is expected to be concluded soon.

The second and third contracts for rolling stock and signalling are under preparation. The project is valued at Bt59.85 billion.

Charlesworth said the PPP concept would help the government develop the project for all Thais. "This is the way to stimulate domestic demand as well as employment," he said.

Pascal Gauthier, commercial director for Asia, North America and Oceania at SNCF International, the state railway of France, said the company was interested in three projects under the supervision of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).

The jobs are: constructing a locomotive maintenance depot, worth ¤40 million (Bt1.9 billion); moving a repair centre from Makkasan to the suburbs and designing the new repair centre, worth ¤25 million; and training SRT staff, worth ¤1 million.

Wachiraphan Phota, business development manager of Thales (Thailand), said Thales, which has expertise in electronic systems for railway and transports, is interested in the contract for the automatic ticket-fare collection system for the Purple and other lines.

Thales' technology - contactless smartcard - is already in use at stations of the subway and the Airport Express, connecting Makkasan to Suvarnabhumi Airport, which is scheduled to open in August.

French Ambassador Laurent Bili said his government has given importance to Thailand's policy to support mass-transit systems, which now is clearer, by supporting French companies to invest in projects such as the Purple Line.

He said France was ready with technologies and experience in civil engineering, infrastructure planning, management design, engineering, maintenance, signalling systems and automatic fare collection systems.

This will help develop Bangkok's mass-transit system more efficiently, he said.

France would provide several assistance packages via state agencies and send ministers related to railway and transport to visit authorities here, he said.

Yiamchai Chatkaeo, acting governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, said the PPP concept should start with the Purple Line for the first project.

"The draft of the PPP concept will seek further approval from the Cabinet after passing the NESDB," he said. Then the terms of reference will be prepared for use in tenders, he said.

The PPP concept opens investment to the private sector in parts of operations, including rolling stock, signalling systems and railway management. The state, as the developer, will grant a concession to a company to operate the railway for a period, for example, 10 years or more.

Using this model, the private firm would not have to take risks in terms of insufficient passengers and the government could supervise the ticket fares and time-tables to link with other rail routes.

The PPP will be different from the concession concept applied to the Skytrain and subway.