Thailand prides itself as being the infrastructure centre of mainland Southeast Asia, if not Asean. Our geographic location, our developed transportation and road network outstrips many of our neighbours, giving us an advantage as a logistics hub.
But there is no doubt that the country's rail system needs a massive upgrade. The overhaul is necessary if we are to truly take advantage and benefit from ongoing regional efforts at enhanced economic cooperation and integration.
Two key mega-rail projects with China and Japan are lynchpins to this roadmap for development and improved economic well-being. The investments are considerable and require careful consideration essential to ensuring that the country and its people gain maximum benefit as we move forward.
After protracted negotiations with the Chinese, the government decided to go it alone after it felt that the Chinese were demanding too many concessions. Thailand is moving ahead in a revised version of the project but with financial and technical assistance from China. Recently the results of an initial Japanese study of the planned Chiang Mai-Bangkok high-speed rail link were released.
Although there are still details to be filled in, Japanese engineers estimate it will cost around 530 billion baht. Thai authorities insist the job can be done for 90 billion baht less. Estimating the cost of a megaproject is difficult at best, seldom accurate and almost always subject to cost overruns and delays.
An estimate of the financial return on the line shows gloomy prospects. In straight language, prospective passengers and freight will not make the line a moneymaker in the near term if it is built. Logic dictates that the project should not proceed at all. But the project must proceed although with much revision. Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith appears to want to enlarge the programme while at the same time saying the railway could sustain itself.
First, Mr Arkhom gave the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTTPP) one year to come up with a plan for an entirely new road-building project so vehicle transport could more easily parallel the rail line.
Adding a road network also means additional costs, which could run into hundreds of millions, if not billions of baht. Also, the plan should also contain provisions to develop the areas alongside the new tracks. Details are still forthcoming.
Whatever the government decides to do, careful consideration is required as to the cost and benefits. And while it appears it will take time before construction and implementation of these mega-rail projects starts, the government still must work to ensure that the transport infrastructure that we have is maintained.
Maintenance, as the current dilapidated, serially derailing State Railway of Thailand network proves, is the most vital, least attended-to cost of every form of transportation from bicycles to busy airports, especially Suvarnabhumi which has moved from regional travel hub to airport bottleneck.
The government needs to take steps to improve maintenance -- on roads, at airports and definitely on railways. More than that, Mr Arkhom and the government must realistically include maintenance costs in their railway upgrade plans.
Otherwise, trains will run well for a while but after a number of years, like the poorly maintained system in Washington, DC, will have to close indefinitely. It would be better to delay high-speed railway construction than to forge ahead with a system unable even to sustain itself.