BANGKOK, 8 January 2013 The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) reports that the Cabinet has approved the second contract on the construction of railway stations and tracks for the Red Line electric train project while adding another 2 billion baht to the construction budget.
SRT Governor Prapas Jongsanguan indicated that the project on the Red Line electric rail system, which will stretch from Bang Sue to Rangsit, was conceived in 2008 but the construction has been faced with a major delay. He said another obstacle is the higher prices of construction materials, which have led to the need for more money to carry on the project.
Therefore, the Cabinet has agreed to increase the total budget from 19 billion baht to 21 billion baht to speed up the completion of the Red Line project as requested. According to the SRT Governor, the first contract, which has long been overdue, will be officially signed before the end of this month while the construction process will begin one month afterwards. The Red Line is expected to be ready for public use in the next 3 years.
