Construction of Bangkok – Chiang Mail Rail Link to Start in 2018

BANGKOK, June 27 (TNA) - It is expected that construction of a high-speed rail link between Bangkok and the northern province of Chiang Mai will start in 2018 while Japan will dispatch its route survey team either next month or in August. Thai Transport Deputy Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told journalists after holding discussions with representatives of Japanese Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry at the Transport Ministry in Bangkok that the talks were focused on three major issues including the high-speed railway project linking Bangkok and Chiang Mai, double –rail track from Bangkok-Kanchanaburi-Sa Kaeo and on goods transportation by rail. Mr. Arkhom said high–speed train project from Bangkok to Chiang Mai will undergo a review which will take about three months and then the Japanese government will conduct a feasibility study . The survey on designs is projected to start in 2016 and an initial conclusion could be made in the middle of the year before it could be forwarded to the Thai cabinet for approval. Construction on the project could start in early 2018, he said. Mr. Arkhom said the construction will be divided into two parts. The first part will be from Bangkok to Phitsanulok while the second part will be from Phitsanulok to Chiang Mai. He said that a joint investment is the most suitable way in which the Thai government wants discussions should be made before a feasibility study starts while the Japanese side proposed that it may find an advisory firm to look into the investment and financial forms. Both sides agreed to hold a meeting every three months. (TNA)