The 250.77km segment between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima province is already over 40% built, indicating that the development of the Thai-Chinese high-speed train between Bangkok and the north-eastern border province of Nong Khai is proceeding successfully.
State Railways of Thailand (SRT) has recently finished the study and design of the project for the second section between Nakhon Ratchasima and Nong Khai, and it is prepared to be submitted to the cabinet for approval, according to Sorapong Paitoonphong, deputy permanent secretary of the Transport Ministry, who briefed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Thursday while he was on site inspection of the project.
The segment between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima consists of 6.4 km of tunnel, 64 km of ground-level track, and 181.9 km of elevated rail track. This segment will have six stations, including the main terminus at Bang Sue, Don Mueang, Ayutthaya, Saraburi, Pak Chong, and Nakhon Ratchasima. An estimate of 179.4 billion baht is needed to complete this portion.
Surapong claims that the project has run into a number of issues, such as delays in land expropriation, potential effects on the world heritage site in Ayutthaya for the Ayutthaya station, a change in design from ground-level track to elevated track for certain contracts, the need to adjust the environmental impact assessment study, and overlap of civil work between this project and the high-speed train project connecting Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi, and Bangkok.
However, 2027 is still the projected completion date, making this project still on schedule.
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SOURCE: http://thaipbsworld.com
