One firm to run all four planned high speed trains

One high-speed bidder to rule them all

Published: 20 Mar 2013 at 17.51
Online news:

The government will select just one firm from all bidders to run four high-speed train lines, probably by the third quarter of the year, Transport Minister Chadchat Sittipunt said on Wednesday.

The minister said bids will cover trains and their signal systems. Bidding on civil work will follow, he added.

Train manufacturers from China, Japan, Spain, South Korea and France have so far shown interest in building and running high-speed trains. There are high-speed trains in all five countries.

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pquinlan
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Discussion 18 : 24 Mar 2013 at 17.3718
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Good logical reason for one provider for all the high speed trains around the country. Why wasn't the same logic used for Skytrain, subway & airport lnk? Why not for all buses in Bangkok? Why not for all ferries in Bangkok?

Why not just use some logic somewhere, anywhere, for a start?
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dieter
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Discussion 17 : 21 Mar 2013 at 09.1617
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Ref: Discussion 6

Just now I was toying and planning a trip with the French TGV train.

I selected as a departure city Paris and as the arrival city Amiens in the north east of Paris.

The distance is 121 km which is about the same as Bangkok to Pattya.

The train fare in the second class Paris to Amiens is Euro 81.10 with a travel time of 1 hour and 20 minutes.

The return fare is Euro 76.30 for a total of Euro 157.40 both ways.

So a family of our individuals can travel to Pattya and back to Bangkok for about 24000 Baht.

I am sure there will many people using this service.
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onlyasking
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Discussion 16 : 21 Mar 2013 at 09.0016
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More mini vans on the already overcrowded roads and one of the highest accident rates in the world? The existing rail network will be kept so people that want to travel cheaply can still do it. To upgrade the existing system you need to lay double tracks or increase the gauge of the tracks which cost just about the same as the HST tracks. Why invest in 1st generation infrastructure if you have the newest generation at hand. Infrastructure development have a long payback period and at first the benefits may not be clear. The cost of the HST is on average B 300 bn per year the same the as rice scheme, scrap that and build the HST system.
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djay
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Discussion 15 : 21 Mar 2013 at 08.2815
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In another BP article a couple of days ago there was a map of the proposed high speed network. That map showed quite a few stops on each link. With so many stops exactly what is the point of calling it 'high speed'?
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mitrapaap
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Discussion 14 : 21 Mar 2013 at 07.0214
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I'm not a supporter of this government, but it definitely makes sense to have only one contractor being responsible for the entire system. I would feel safer in anything other than Chinese, and on long term I think rail is the future, and Thailand is big enough, the distances far enough for to justify high speed trains.

You can't just say 'no' to everything this government is doing. If they did more against corruption, that would be great, but when was the last time you asked your boss for a salary decrease?
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dao
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Discussion 13 : 21 Mar 2013 at 01.1913
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On your marks get set steal that money .
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bkposter
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Discussion 12 : 20 Mar 2013 at 21.1412
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Ron...D3...there are none as you know that are even a little bit clean...but that does not fit the political agenda for the yellows to admit that their party is as dirty as any of the others.
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BobBarker
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Discussion 11 : 20 Mar 2013 at 20.5811
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They'll disclose the specifics for each of the bids while awarding the winner. Surely.
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ron1947
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Discussion 10 : 20 Mar 2013 at 20.3010
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Disc #8 is spot on the money; a fleet of minivans would be much cheaper and just as fast as they already have a proven track record for speed if not safety.
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Renaissance
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Discussion 9 : 20 Mar 2013 at 20.119
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Like others, I also feel that there will be few people travelling on the expensive high speed trains.

It's tempting to say that having just one company will facilitate the paying and receiving of commissions, but that would be so unfair as the government has assured us that there will be no corruption.
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