The State Railway of Thailand will receive the first lot of 13 air-conditioned train carriages from China CNR Corporation Limited this coming Sunday, said SRT governor Wutthichart Kalayanamitr on Monday.
The first delivery of 13 carriages is part of a total of 115 carriages purchased from China CNR Corporation Limited to boost the SRT’s train services. The acquisition of new train carriages is part of the SRT’s infrastructure development project estimated to cost 176.8 billion baht in investment from 2010 to 2017.
The 13 new carriages include one first-class air-conditioned seating and sleeper train carriage, ten second-class air-conditioned sleeper carriages and one air-conditioned canteen car and one electric carriage.
The rest of the carriages will be delivered until November with two carriages each month.
The first 13 air-conditioned carriages will be put into service on four express routes namely Bangkok-Chiang Mai, Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani, Bangkok-Nong Khai and Bangkok-Hat Yai and vice versa.
The SRT will operate two trains of each of the four express routes per day. Each train can travel up to 120 km/hour and the travelling time will shortened by an average of three hours.
The SRT expects 1.073 million passengers to use the express service, generating 1.2 billion baht in revenue.
The 115 train carriages include nine first-class air-conditioned seating and sleeper carriages, 88 second-class air-conditioned seating and sleeper carriages, nine carriages for the disabled, nine air-conditioned canteen cars, nine electric carriages and 11 carriages as reserves.
