Govt mulls cancelling half of Red Line project

[Terry]

A friend sent me this clip this morning.............

It could only happen here...!

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transpo ... ne-project

Govt mulls cancelling half of Red Line project
• Published: 8/09/2012 at 04:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News
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The Transport Ministry is considering cancelling about half of the upcoming Red Line electric train project, which would link Bang Sue in Bangkok to Rangsit in Pathum Thani.

Chatt: Orders ministry study
Two days after the conclusion of bidding for the construction of that section of the route, Deputy Transport Minister Chatt Kuldiloke said yesterday he had ordered a study on the ministry's proposal to terminate the project, supervised by the State Railways of Thailand (SRT).
The main reason the ministry wanted to curtail the Red Line project at Bang Sue was that it would overlap with the future extension of the Airport Rail Link from Phaya Thai station to Don Mueang airport, he said.
Cancelling the first Red Line section would save the government almost 100 billion baht in construction costs, Pol Lt Gen Chatt said.
He added the Red Line section to Rangsit would also overlap with a planned high-speed rail link project.
The Rangsit-Bang Sue route is a sub-section of the planned Red Line route. If it goes ahead as planned, it is estimated to start in 2014.
Another Red Line is planned to run from Bang Sue to Taling Chan.
Italian-Thai Development Plc on Wednesday won the bid for the contract to lay rails and for civil works of the Red Line between Bang Sue and Rangsit.
The company beat another giant construction firm, Ch Karnchang Plc, with its bid of 24.1 billion baht.
The winning bid was, however, still about 5 billion baht above the budget ceiling approved for this project.
The SRT and the ministry's Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning were assigned to jointly carry out a study to determine the advantages and disadvantages of terminating the project, Pol Lt Gen Chatt said.
The results of the study were expected in the next one to two weeks and a forum would be held on Thursday to invite opinions on the project's potential termination, said Pol Lt Gen Chatt.
The deputy minister also said the SRT is in the process of splitting its operations into distinct business units, covering rail operations, asset management and maintenance functions.
This is to serve the development of infrastructure.
The government has earmarked 176 billion baht in funds for rail investment by the SRT through 2014.
The development includes improving the railways throughout the country by widening dual tracks with standard gauge from 1 metre to 1.435m wide.
The first phase of the double-track project is under way, starting in 2010 and due to finish in 2014, with a total of 765km of track to be laid.
The second (1,025km) and third phase (1,247km) will start in 2015 and 2020, respectively.

Thoughts...........
It's no wonder that Bangkok's urban development is in such a mess with stuff like this going on.
I despair

[brianks]

Yes Terry, just reinforces that these guys (government) can't think or plan beyond their noses. To go through all the trouble of bidding the job then to question if it should be built sure smacks of incompetence. Waste every companies time bidding for jobs you decide later won't be built. Next time why even bid!

[Terry]

Spot-on Brian

Over the years I have done a lot of consulting work in the S.E.Asia metro / rail construction business, and this type of stupidity is becoming EVEN more common.

A lot of Contractors are now shying away from bidding on these projects and frankly I cannot blame them.

[Nereus]

Well, if they are going to save all that money by cancelling, lets hope the idiots buy some more rolling stock and try and improve the "service" that they do not provide on the existing system.
The Sukhumvit line has become unusable for me. They have one lone 4 car train running on it, all the rest 3 car trains. I am a couple of stations form the eastern end of the system, and even inbound from here it is packed to overflowing, especially since the opening of the extension to Baring.

The fearless leaders go and reduce the tax to encourage more people to buy cars, when they should be trying to reduce the cars on the road. It defies all know logic.

[Terry]

As can be clearly seen, the BTS was designed for 6 car trains - just check out the platform lengths.

The train-sets should and could have been easily expanded several years ago to cope with increased ridership, both natural and due to the extensions.

But - as usual - those that run and administer the system got into contractual / financial arguments with suppliers and now the fall out is evident.

As a result on the Silom line there are new 4 car trains built in China with European traction and bogies and now new cars have arrived from Europe for the Sukhumvit line.

Check out http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transpo ... in-october

Your problems may be relieved soon Nereus - for now at least

BTW - the BTS (A private company with a concession from the BMA) has nothing to do with the Red Line which will be administered by the SRT (As per Airport Express) nor the Blue Line (BMCL under the control of MRTA)

Oh yes - and they are also still looking at 'common ticketing' for through journeys on all systems.

Confusing innit?

[Nereus]

Thanks Terry, I had not noticed that Bangkok Post article.

BTW - the BTS (A private company with a concession from the BMA) has nothing to do with the Red Line which will be administered by the SRT (As per Airport Express) nor the Blue Line (BMCL under the control of MRTA)

Do you know where else in the World, at least in a metropolitan area, that this type of infrastructure exists?
I have not worked on rail systems, but a big part of my working life was maintaining very similar equipment, including electric traction motors and control equipment. Across a whole fleet of equipment it was always a priority to try and have as much of it as possible of a common type. This led to a lower spare parts inventory that could be easily transferred around the fleet, and also to having people that could be transferred around without a difficult learning curve.

Of course, we were not concerned with giving kickbacks to our suppliers, or one division trying to outdo the other! The bottom line was answerable to the share holders, not somebodies brother, sister, mother or uncle!