Meanwhile, the demand of railway mode in Thailand, though also growing, tends to be
constrained by the declining investment. In fact, railway is more efficient at transporting bulk
freight traffic over medium to long distances. It can also effectively handle large volume of
transportation with time punctuality, speed safety and lower energy consumption, compared to
their main rival, the truck industry (Cilliers and Nagel 1994, Crainic and Laporte 1997,
Kasilingam 2003). However, generally in Thailand, agricultural products such as rice, coconut
and sugar, and secondary merchandises such as machines and consumer products, depends
largely on truck transportation. As a result, very few portions of these cargoes being
transported by rail, despite of its several advantages of large-volume services offered for
bulky cargoes.