The Airport Rail Link should be run by a private firm to help cut losses and improve the service, according to the service operator.
The service wold be more effective if run by a private company, said Gen Thawatchai Samutsakorn, board chairman of State Railway of Thailand (SRT) Electrified Train Co (SRTET), which runs the Airport Rail Link.
The SRTET is a subsidiary of the SRT.
With a private company handling the operation, the time it takes to procure new trains and spare parts can be reduced from one year at present to only six months, Gen Thawatchai said.
"The idea of supporting a private company to run the Airport Rail Link does not come from me alone. A meeting of the State Enterprises Policy Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, also came up with a proposal to ask a private company to operate the Airport Rail Link," Gen Thawatchai said.
The SRT has the power to grant a concession to a company or ask a company to jointly invest in a public-private partnership (PPP).
If a company invests jointly, the two parties will share revenue, the board chairman said.
However, any potential service operator of the Airport Rail Link will be fined if they suspend the service or have problems running it, he said.
Gen Thawatchai said he also believes that bringing in a private firm would help reduce the train service's losses, which have reached 30 billion baht in total.
"In foreign countries, private firms are sought to operate such services so governments don't have to shoulder the burden of running them, and the services have been carried out effectively,'' Gen Thawatchai said.
Many domestic and foreign firms have expressed an interest in running the service, he said. If the plan to privatise the rail link goes ahead, the government will open bidding and assess the candidates.
About 60,000 people use the Airport Rail Link service every day.