Thailand is talking to Japan with a view to building three rail routes in the nation, a Thai minister said yesterday, the latest move by its military government to begin long-delayed plans to modernize its aging rail network.
Thailand wants three new lines connecting the capital, Bangkok, with cities in the east, west, north and northeast, and Japan had expressed interest in undertaking the work, Thai Minister of Transport Air Chief Marshal Prajin Junthong said.
His announcement came a day after Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding with China to construct two separate lines of 867km in the kingdom, starting in 2016.
“We’re still in the process of talks [with Japan]. It will be clearer after the Japanese government has finished its election and discussion will be made with both sides,” Prajin told reporters on the sidelines of a regional summit in Bangkok.
An overhaul of Thailand’s rail network was proposed long ago, but has yet to materialize.
The junta wants to start the ball rolling as part of its big infrastructure plans to try to revive an economy blighted by weak spending and exports.
Thailand has proposed Japan builds two separate east-west lines, one from Mae Sot at the border with Myanmar to Mukdahan near the border with Laos, and another connecting Kanchanaburi with the industrialized province of Rayong.
A third route would run from Bangkok to the northern city of Chiang Mai, Prajin said.
Thailand agreed to use Chinese firms and technology to build a 734km standard-gauge dual track railway from Nong Khai, on the border with Laos, to its ports and industrial zones in the east. Another line would link Bangkok with the central province of Saraburi, about 108km away.
A modern rail network would boost Thai trade and tourism and strengthen China’s strategic foothold in a nation with traditionally strong ties with Japan and the US. Relations with Washington have soured since a coup in May.
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