Thailand nears completion of its share of double-track upgrading
The project to upgrade the 4,500km Singapore-Kunming railway to dual-track is expected to be completed by 2027, said the Department of Rail Transport on Thursday.
To complement the goal, the department is also working on the second phase of a dual-track upgrade campaign on seven domestic routes, totalling 1,479 kilometres under a budget of 275 billion baht.
The Singapore-Kunming railway will connect five countries in the region — namely Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and China. The good news was delivered by department director-general Pichet Kunathammarak at the “4th iTIC FORUM 2023: Power of Connectivity and Smart Mobility” event, hosted by the Thai Intelligent Traffic Information Centre in Bangkok.
The original dual-track upgrade of the former single-track route will increase capacity and is being carried out by each respective country, Pichet said, adding that Thailand’s part in the upgrade was mostly finished except for the Chumphon-Padang Besar section.
The upgrade of this 534km section will cost around 87.6 billion baht, which the state railway expects the Cabinet will approve within this year.
The entire route of 4,500km is expected to become dual-track by 2027.
“The department has been continuously upgrading the domestic railway into dual-track. From next year onward we should start seeing the result, when about 1,000km of dual-track routes under the first phase of the campaign will be usable, increasing the capacity of both passenger and product transport,” said Pichet.
Currently, Thailand has approximately 624km of usable dual-track railway.
The Department of Rail Transport is also planning a third phase of dual-track upgrading, which would cover some 3,400km of domestic railway.
