It’s back to the drawing board for the proposed Pattaya monorail project after the government suggested that a high-speed train linking the region’s three main airports would terminate in Huay Yai instead of Pattaya City.
Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome said Feb. 13 that more studies will be needed to accommodate new ideas to build the high-speed rail station either in Huay Yai in Banglamung District or Najomtien in Sattahip District, rather than near Bali Hai Pier.
Pattaya’s planned monorail project was intended to link with the high-speed rail station, allowing tourists from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports or U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya Airport to commute by train to downtown Pattaya.
Pattaya already provided funding for the initial feasibility studies, but now will have to seek more funds to change those studies, Sonthaya said. He added the city would not seek compensation from the other municipalities for moving the station from Pattaya.
The project is still on, Sonthaya said, and it’s still hoped to build the monorail through a public-private partnership. But the route now will be much longer and the entire project more costly.
There’s no estimate on how long the need for a new study will delay the project.
