PATTAYA – The State Railway of Thailand next month will request 28 billion baht to construct a high-speed train line linking Pattaya with the region’s three main airports.
Chonburi Deputy Gov. Phawat Lertmukhda chaired an Aug. 30 public hearing at the Asia Hotel about the project connecting U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya Airport with Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang.
SRT development director Julthep Jithasombat said the agency will set forth its formal plan at a meeting next month and make the budget request under the government’s Eastern Economic Corridor project.
If approved, construction would begin in 2018 with the line opening in 2022.
The planned route calls for a standard-gauge set of tracks to run from Don Mueang to the terminus of the existing Airport Rail Link in Makkhasan, Bangkok, to Suvarnabhumi and through Chachoengsao and Chonburi to Pattaya, U-Tapao and Rayong.
The 10 planned stations also include the Bangkok Subway’s Bang Sue station and Sriracha.
The line’s operations and maintenance centers would be built on 400 rai in Chachoengsao.
