3.3 Inadequate capacity of railway infrastructure and supporting facilities
Additional to the narrow market, limited potential clients, and expiring track and vehicles,
low capacity and low efficiency of freight services themselves obstruct the expansion of the
railway use. SRT (State Railway of Thailand 2002) operates train services over a network of
47 provinces with approximately 4,129 km. However, only 165 and 83 km are double and
triple tracks, respectively, as shown in Fig. 8. Moreover, there are approximately 620 rail
stations and stopping locations in Thailand, but only a minimal share is available for bulky
freight transportation. In total, 292 of out 620 rail stations deal with freight services. However,
only 55 stations involve large-volume transport with more than 10,000 tons of freight. Only
those 10 largest rail freight stations that deal with more than 75% of the total freight volume
in the country. This means that only these large stations are equipped with loading facility and
are available for bulky cargo transportation (State Railway of Thailand 2002).