Thailand's high-speed train project underway

[margaretcarnes]

Apart from the fact that the timescale seems unrealistic - I don't get the maths involved. Phase one due for completion by 2018. Yet 6 years after the start of the project exports will be up by 80%? Is it just me or is it still not a biggish leap from Chiang Mai to China?

[Bamboo Grove]

Mags, I think it's connected to this thing.

http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2011/may/K ... gapore.cfm

Work has begun on the Chinese section of the Kunming-Singapore high-speed railway, which is intended to enable fast cargo transport between the countries of south east Asia and China.

The 420km China-Laos section starts in Kunming, capital city of Yunnan province, and terminates in Vientiane, Laos.

Construction of a railway logistics centre has already begun at the border town of Mohan. Given the mountainous terrain in Laos, the line will require 165 bridges and 69 tunnels.

According to an official of the Ministry of Railways in Beijing, Chen Jie, the clearing of unexploded bombs in Laos dropped during the Vietnam War could delay the completion of the construction.

“These bombs will have to be detonated and cleared to avoid problems later,” Chen said. Barring obstacles, completion of the line is planned for May 2015.

Construction of the 620km Laos-Thailand link, Nong Khai from the border of Laos to Bangkok, is expected to start in October and be completed in September 2015.

Other lines yet to start construction are the 240km domestic link between Bangkok and the Rayong province and the 558km Bangkok-Padang Besar line which ends at the northern side of the Malaysia-Thai border.

State Railway of Thailand is in talks with China to invest and provide the expertise for the project. Construction is expected to start later this year after negotiations between the two countries are completed.

The Padang Besar line will then be linked to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The Kunming-Singapore high-speed railway with total lines measuring 4,800km is expected to be operational in 2020, five years behind schedule due to several constraints including lack of funds. Travelling time from Kunming to Singapore will take 10 hours 15 minutes.

Currently it takes 73 hours to travel by train from Singapore to Vientiane with stops in Kuala Lumpur, Butterworth on the mainland of the northern Malaysian state of Penang, Hatyai and Bangkok.

The idea for the Kunming-Singapore railway was conceived at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Prime Ministers’ conference in Singapore in 1995.

It will be the central line of the south east part of the Trans-Asian Railway Network which was mooted in the 1960s with the aim of providing a continuous 14,000km rail link between Singapore and Istanbul with the hope of possible onward connections to Europe and Africa.

ASEAN is a 10-nation bloc comprising Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Laos and the Philippines.

[Dr Mike]

Only way it could work is to do what Laos has done --step back and let China do it for you--local labor but Chinese money and engineering--It is amazing how fast they can build these tracks, tunnels and bridges.

[Lung Per]

Only way it could work is to do what Laos has done --step back and let China do it for you--local labor but Chinese money and engineering--It is amazing how fast they can build these tracks, tunnels and bridges.

Not really a surprise. Chinamen built the RRs in the U.S.A. over hundred years ago.

[johnnyk]

Only way it could work is to do what Laos has done --step back and let China do it for you--local labor but Chinese money and engineering--It is amazing how fast they can build these tracks, tunnels and bridges.

Not really a surprise. Chinamen built the RRs in the U.S.A. over hundred years ago.

And the Canadian Pacific through Canada where Chinese workers were lowered over the rock cliffs in baskets to place dynamite charges. White people would not do it. Huge fatality rates but the attitude was Chinese are expendable.

[margaretcarnes]

Thanks BG - yes that makes sense now. But it's a scary prospect for the future of Nong Khai if the project does link up there.
It's got the space for a huge rail terminal but is also still a quiet little place with not too many expats, and a low cost of living. Progress eh?

[brianks]

Maglev trains??? There great but Dream on. Way to costly to operate. Note even in China only one operates (at a loss) and only between airport and Pudong. If it were cost effective you would see more in operation but economics of running it are way too costly to consider.

I'll believe the High Speed Trains in Thailand when I see them in operation. Don't know if I will live that long though.

[Khundon1975]

Hi Speed, no thanks. I like my train crashes at low speed. The Thais are good at those.

It will take them years to correctly manage high speed train crashes.

[Dr Mike]

The high speed rail thing is interesting. It is an important part of the efforts to bring SE Asia countries into a tighter union. One of the reasons for this is that this makes it easier to prevent domination by China. And yet China is the one pushing hard for the linkage-- the China--Singapore bond being a strong one.

[The understudy]

Hi there Y'All

Let"s talk about the local impct this project will have as construction of the rail bed and rail line will finish in Hua Hin for the first phase of this project.
As the highspeed line runs along the existing line, I can see many areas of Cha Am and Hua Hin along the existing rail line will have to be raised and the land owners reimbursed to move highspeed rail here. As I looked @ gogel earth I can spot more than a dozen to 20 trouble spots alone which could be a major headace for sesigners and engineersinvolved with this Mega Project.
Ohh yeah Hua Hin Train station would also have to be expanded or completely build from scratch to accommodate a Highspeed train running @ topsspeed of 250 km/h than stopping in hua hin with all it's beauty . How's my stands to this?
Yo! I'm gonna have a Girlfriend (hopefully Japanese), Marry her and having a few of them Kids before this project even ends it's first phase.

your's The understudy

[margaretcarnes]

Good point about HH station Understudy - and they won't widen it on the existing platform side, which means taking a chunk out of the golf course? And widening the tunnel under the airport runway or building a second tunnel?

Doomed before it starts

[STEVE G]

Good point about HH station Understudy - and they won't widen it on the existing platform side, which means taking a chunk out of the golf course?

I imagine that you could even move those historic buildings a bit if you had to as they're pretty lightly built timber structures but personally I would just drive a caterpiller tractor through the golf course. Actually I think there is enough room there anyway without actually changing the course itself.

[Pleng]

Good point about HH station Understudy - and they won't widen it on the existing platform side, which means taking a chunk out of the golf course? And widening the tunnel under the airport runway or building a second tunnel?

Doomed before it starts

Would it have to actually run from Hua Hin Station? Isn't there one just down the road in Nong Kae? How's the land around that?

[margaretcarnes]

Good point about HH station Understudy - and they won't widen it on the existing platform side, which means taking a chunk out of the golf course? And widening the tunnel under the airport runway or building a second tunnel?

Doomed before it starts

Would it have to actually run from Hua Hin Station? Isn't there one just down the road in Nong Kae? How's the land around that?

Tha Big Plan is to run the high speed link to HH already - and there is only one existing rail link there Bangkok to South.
Yes of course we are ignoring the fact that a new rail line could completely circumvent HH, but is that likely to happen given that HH already has a station of some importance, and that HH is situated on one of the most narrow parts of Thailand?
If - and only if - the planners thought 'outside of the box' I could see ways around it. But there would be so many statistical/cultural and down right stick in the mud obstacles to common sense solutions that i can't see it happening.

[The understudy]

Hi there Y'all

Margeret you are absolutely right this Highspeed rail project coul circumvent Hua Hin alltogether and could cruise down highway 4 (Not Petchkasem Rd.) all the way to Pranburi and set up a Station to the south there! When you go to Google Maps up to the point where the roads split to Highway 4 bypassing Hua Hin and the Main Petchkasem Rd. My solution would be building the Highspeed Railtracks along Highway 4. And than rejoin the the current existing railline at Pranburi! Instead of Hua Hin. I hope this option will be considered to by the planners as well as you stated rightly Margeret If they "think outside the Box!" But with plans firmly knotted @ Hua Hin be the first stop on the first phase I can't see the engineers and planners would go for Pranburi!

Your's The understudy!!