Bidding contest for construction of Bangkok-Rayong high-speed rail project set early next year

BANGKOK, May 16 (TNA) - The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) plans to organize a bidding contest for the construction of the Bangkok-Rayong high-speed rail project early next year. SRT Governor Prapat Chongsanguan told reporters on Thursday that the eastern high-speed rail project will be extended from the existing Airport Rail Link, which stretches from the Thai capital's Phaya Thai area to the country's main Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok's suburban Samut Prakan province. Prapat acknowledged that the Bangkok-Rayong high-speed rail project is among four high-speed rail projects under the Thai government’s new two-trillion-baht transport development scheme, using the Bang Sue Railway Station as its interchange station and running through Makkasan, Suvarnabhumi, Chachoengsao, Chon Buri and Pattaya to Rayong with its total length of 221 kilometers. The SRT governor said Bang Sue will also be the terminus station of the new Bangkok-Rayong high-speed rail route to serve over 100,000 passengers daily, with its total construction cost estimated at 100.63 billion baht. According to the SRT governor, the Bangkok-Rayong high-speed rail project can be built on the existing strip of land along the eastern railway track so that the Thai government will not lose time or money for land expropriation. The SRT governor revealed that the environmental impact assessment and details of the Bangkok-Rayong high-speed rail project will be concluded over the next six months and its bidding contest is, thus, scheduled early next year and the new high-speed train system to the Thai East is expected to start operation before 2019. (TNA)