Weird News
Your free weekly newspaper since 2008
issue 3 1 7 20 February 2015
English Corner Horoscopes Sudoku Who’d Be a Ref?
on track high speed trains - are they needed?
hua hin, THAILAND In March and June last year, we reported that the funding for the proposed high speed train network had been ruled unconstitutional and that the project, including a Bangkok - Hua Hin line, was unlikely to go ahead. However last week, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha tasked agencies to do a feasibility study on building a high-speed rail network linking Bangkok and popular tourism destinations with joint investment from the private sector, with Hua Hin and Pattaya being specifically mentioned. Given the number of times the high speed train link from Bangkok to Hua Hin has been proposed, studied and ultimately shelved over the years, we have little confidence that this will ever happen, and despite the initial appeal of the idea and the notion that one could be in the heart of Bangkok in an hour, there are several things that might dampen enthusiasm for it. Chief among these is safety, as the current delapidated rail network has had a very chequered past, with a number of high profile crashes and derailments, as well as the notoriously dangerous level crossings, and given the proposed speeds of any new system, this is something that has the potential for disaster. Ticket pricing has never been mentioned to date, but given the huge amount of money that would need to be spent to construct the connection, we suspect that it would not be competitive with the alternatives on the road, although undoubtedly faster and more environmentally friendly. We feel that the revamping and dual tracking of the existing network that is currently underway may well be enough to cope with demand, with more and safer trains able to run, and should cut the current journey times by rail significantly so it offers a genuine alternative, which in turn may encourage more people to travel to Hua Hin by rail than road. As we noted last week, the roads are dangerous in Thailand, so anything that helps reduce traffic will also save lives. A high speed train to and from Hua Hin, we suspect, might turn out to be a white elephant.
Victor
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