PM expects high-speed railway to start service in 2021

BANGKOK, 12 (TNA) -- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha insisted that the government had to pay all the cost of the country’s first high-speed railway between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima as he expected the service could start in 2021. The Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima link will be part of Thailand’s first high-speed railway from Bangkok to Nong Khai province. Gen Prayut said after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the link was useful because it would connect to railways of nearby countries. “I talked with the Chinese prime minister. China said if it was a joint venture, its company would operate the system in Thailand and control benefits along the route… Then we said we would rather develop it ourselves. In conclusion, we must bear the investment. We will hire their advisors and it will be another form of cooperation. We will formulate plans for the construction of the railway and the management of assets along the route. This will be added values,” Gen Prayut said. He said that the first phase of the project between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima province would be opened in late 2021. The construction would start in Klang Dong sub-district of Pak Chong district in Nakhon Ratchasima because there was not a problem of encroachment. The cabinet on Tuesday endorsed the construction of the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima high-speed railway worth US$5.5 billion. (TNA)