Light rail system to replace expressway near Kasetsart University

Pongsapat Pongcharoen, the Pheu Thai candidate in the Bangkok governor election, revealed yesterday the Transport Ministry had scrapped a plan to build an expressway in front of Kasetsart University and would erect a light rail system instead.

Pongsapat, accompanied by Defence Minister Sukampol Suwannathat, wooed voters at the university's Bang Khen campus during the Kaset Fair yesterday. Pongsapat attracted attention from many shoppers, who asked to take photos with him.

Asked by a student what he would do with the controversial six-lane expressway (Stage 3 N1) project that would eat into some of the university's land, he said he had spoken with Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt in the morning and was told the ministry would shift to a light rail transit system instead. He said Chadchart would announce this on February 16 as the government understood and knew Kasetsart University people opposed the expressway plan.