Board Greenlights High-Speed Rail Phase 2 to Nong Khai, Appoints Wirat Amrapal as New SRT Governor
The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) board has approved Wirat Amrapal, the current governor of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), as the new SRT governor, the 30th person to hold the position. The board also gave the green light to the 341 billion baht high-speed rail project Phase 2, which will be submitted to the Cabinet next year. Construction is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed in 2034.
Jirut Wisanjit, Director-General of the Department of Land Transport and Chairman of the SRT Board, stated that after negotiating compensation and presenting the results to the SRT Board, the appointment will be proposed to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport, and then the Cabinet for consideration. The contract is expected to be signed around September 2024.
Anan Phothnimdaeng, Deputy Governor of SRT, mentioned that the board has approved the cooperation project between the Thai and Chinese governments to develop the high-speed rail system connecting Bangkok and Nong Khai in Phase 2, covering the Nakhon Ratchasima-Nong Khai section, with a distance of 357.12 kilometers and a budget of 341 billion baht. The project will be proposed to the Ministry of Transport and relevant agencies, and is expected to be submitted to the Cabinet for consideration around January 2028.
The project timeline suggests that the bidding process for contractors will open around early February 2028, with construction commencing around the same year. The construction is estimated to take 72 months, or about 6 years, with the project expected to be completed and operational around 2034. However, the details of the construction contracts are yet to be finalized, with the board instructing SRT to review them carefully, particularly regarding the division of areas and expropriation points for each contract.
Anan also noted that the SRT can submit the project for Cabinet approval without finalizing the contract details, as these will be determined later during the preparation of the bidding documents (TOR). The auction for the high-speed train operation along the entire Bangkok-Nong Khai route under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model has not yet been discussed in the meeting.
The board also approved the hiring of Epsilon Group, consisting of seven companies, as consultants for the detailed design of the second Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge project in Nong Khai province, with a contract value of 119,946,221.04 baht and a study period of 12 months. The contract is expected to be signed no later than September 2024.
Currently, the high-speed rail project Phase 2 has not yet begun land expropriation, which will need to wait for Cabinet approval. After that, a draft royal decree for expropriation will be prepared, and the royal decree will need to be announced. The project requires the expropriation of approximately 1,991 plots of land, with a budget of about 12 billion baht.
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