Thai High-Speed Rail Project Set For Completion in 2030, Government Says – The Diplomat

The Thai Government expects its part of the high speed rail that will connect it to China via Laos to start operating until the end of the decade, despite the slow progress since its construction began in 2017.

The construction of the first phase of the line that connects the Province of Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchaima is currently completed about 36 percent, said Government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub in yesterday’s statement, Bangkok Post reported.

The design for the second phase that will provide the railway on the Nong Khai on the border with Laos is completed and willing to be submitted to the cabinet for approval, Jirayu said. He added that the first phase was on the way to end until 2027, and the entire line of 609 kilometers by 2030.

Jiraya added that the end of the railway line, which is estimated cost 434 billion bats ($ 12.9 billion), It will be “The opportunity for Thailand to associate with the global economy” and emphasizes its status of a regional logistical center.

The proposed rail connection will be launched by Bangkok to Nong Khai on the border with Laos, where they will connect with China-Las RailwayLeading a Chinese Initiative and Road Initiative Project (Bri), which Operations began At the end of 2021. When the connection is completed, it is possible to travel by train from Bangkok to Kunning, the capital of the Chinese Province of Yunnan, and from there to the rest of China via an extensive high -speed rail network in the country.

Discussions of high speed Thailand began almost two decades ago, and the project was formally launched in 2014. Construction then began in December 2017 on the leg of the Bangkok-Cankhon Ratchaima project. However, progress was slow because of the disagreements regarding the cost and loan, the pandemic of Coid-19 and the challenges associated with the rights of land development. Only last month, the Committee of the Thailand State Railway approved an extension Treaty for three segments of the railway for up to two years, citing difficulties from land expropriation and moving oil pipelines along its route.

The progress of frustration in Beijing is reportedly disputed. During a visit to Bangkok in January last year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi invited to China and Thailand Accelerate the construction of the railway line and “open the center line of the trans-asian railway.” Like other high -speed railway railways that connected the Yunnan Province to Mjanmar and Vietnam, the lines through Thailand and Laos are intended to deepen the economic integration between the mainland Southeast Asia and South China, which was historically inhibited a rough and very wooded terrain.

Ever since he assumed his post in 2023, the Government under the leadership of PHE has promised to accelerate The end of the railway project, which spins with its goals of attracting more trade and tourism from China and positioning itself as the “Logistical Center of Asia”.

In yesterday’s press, a spokesman Jirayu said that Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra ordered the Expedition of the Fast Railway project, along with separate projects to double the trace of some existing Thai rail lines and built “”land bridge“Through Outhmus Kra in the south of the country.

Given the repeated delays that attended the first eight years of the construction of the project – at the end of 2023, the Thai government projected that the project would be completed by 2028 – It is right to consider the 2030 deadline. With the degree of skepticism, even if the railway is eventually built.