The State Railway of Thailand briefed Pattaya-area government and business leaders on ongoing plans to develop new rail lines connecting Bangkok and the Maptaput Industrial Estate with an eye toward adding a Pattaya link.
Commercial Department Director Sirima Runcharoenwech hosted the Oct. 6 seminar at the Pullman Pattaya Hotel G with city councilors, members of the THA Eastern Chapter, and the Thai-Chinese Cultural Council of Thailand.
The meeting was organized to propose a “transit-oriented development strategy” to link the nation’s capital to other regions of Thailand with objectives to promote the transportation system and boost the economy.
The State Railway of Thailand briefed Pattaya-area government and business leaders on ongoing plans to develop new rail lines connecting Bangkok and the Maptaput Industrial Estate with an eye toward adding a Pattaya link.
The government already is moving forward on plans to develop double-track rail lines linking Bangkok with Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen and Rayong with Bangkok. The latter route would run through Chachoengsao, Sriracha and Laem Chabang on the way to the eastern region’s factory center and port.
The Chiang Mai link has been proposed to be a high-speed train line accommodating speeds up to 200 kilometers per hour. A similar high-speed line linking Bangkok with Pattaya was first proposed in 1998 and gained initial approval in 2001 but, to date, no work to actually build it has ever started.
Construction has begun on a conventional rail line stretching 106 kilometers from Chachoengsao to Sriracha is currently underway, as well as the link to Laem Chabang, built parallel to an older existing set of tracks of a different gauge.
Along with that, 119 rai of land in Chachoengsao, Baan Pasee and Kaneg Koy have been purchased and cleared by the government for rail development.
The train lines are seen as vital improvement’s to Thailand’s freight-logistics system linking industrial estates with Laos, Myanmar and China.
