The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) proposes changing a plan to procure 184 diesel locomotives in favour of electric trains.
SRT governor Nirut Maneephan said the proposal has been approved by the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) and will be submitted to the new cabinet with an unchanged budget of 1.5 billion baht.
He said the SRT also plans to acquire 182 carriages, where it will consider a new form of procurement including an operating lease or a financial lease that has not yet been adopted by the SRT but is widely used in the aviation business.
"The SRT has consulted the Public Debt Management Office at the Ministry of Finance to acquire new carriages without obtaining loans through benefit-sharing among manufacturers and sponsors. We have to make a well-rounded study to support our proposal to policymakers," said Mr Nirut.
The SRT also plans to purchase 946 container wagons with a budget of 2.4 billion baht. It said buying them is preferable because it would yield more profit than an operating lease.
The 946 wagons are part of a procurement plan to own 2,700 wagons in total to meet rising demand for cargo transport.