SLOW START FOR HIGH-SPEED RAIL
The construction of the Bangkok-Chiang Mai high-speed railway is expected to start in 2018, two years later than scheduled, as a thorough route survey is needed to ensure safety. As the Japanese-designed rail system attaches high importance to safety, a metic- ulous survey is needed for the areas slated for the railway construction, deputy Trans- port Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said. The survey, he said, would start either next month or in August and could take about one year. The details of the project's investment plan will be completed by 2017 and con- struction will startin early 2018, he said.
rt rail development partnership follow of rel the the on of up between Friday of after cooperation a to meeting memorandum was agencies speaking evant on the He Thai and Japanese governments. The deal was signed by Transport Min- ister Prajin Juntong and Akihiro Ota, the Japanese Minister of Land, Infrastruc- ture, Transport and Tourism, late last month The deal covers the construction of a new 635-kilometre railroute for high-speed trains from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and 574km of metre-gauge double-track rail routes including a Kanchanaburi-Bang- kok-Chachoengsao-Aranyaprathet route at the Cambodian border, linking up with the country's key industrial zone on the eastern seaboard.