An Update on the Progress of the High-Speed Railway connecting Three Airports

86 percent of the area, or 5,521 rai, has been handed over – with confidence that the service will be open to the public by 2025

State Railway of Thailand has executed the land hand-over for the area between Suvarnabhumi International Airport to U-Tapao International Airport, Rayong – a distance of 170 kilometers. The corresponding area is 5,521 rai, and the hand-over to private company is 86 percent complete. Additionally, the removal of utilities and expropriation of land obstructing construction is in the process of agreement and contracted under SRT. Altogether the process is proceeding in accordance with the law, and will be ready for the full hand-over by September 2021.

Construction operations will start to take shape soon. Presently, private company have already made substantial advancements on the necessary construction preparations. This includes the erection of temporary access roads and bridges, the site office, worker’s camps and rail and rail component foundry. As such, actual construction will be ready to begin immediately upon closure of the necessary land hand-overs between Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao. Altogether, construction will take a total of 4-5 years, and a full Phayathai – Suvarnabhumi – U-Tapao service will be open to the public in 2025

The Airport Rail Link’s operations will be privatized, in order to undergo an overhaul to improve passenger convenience and safety. Accordingly, it has been confirmed that passengers will not be affected throughout the transfer proceedings on the 24th of the October 2021, in particular, their passenger tickets. Thus, passengers will be able to continue using monthly tickets, following the transfer. And the private company has agreed that new passenger cards will be distributed to the public after the transfer.

The preparedness of the private sector. Prior to the transfer, a budget of 1.7 billion baht was spent on bringing in international and domestic experts in operating the train services to inspect various systems, inspect operational techniques at the stations, and provide evaluations on how to improve the stations. Additionally, evaluations were provided on how to improve the skill of workers needed Technology Transfer, as well as ways to raise the level of service and customer satisfaction.

The high-speed rail project linking the three airports is a collaborative investment project between the government and the private company – known as a public-private partnership (PPP). It should be noted that all phases of the project are characterized by complete transparency, where the country will the highest benefit. In total, the investment expenditure combines to 258 billion baht (government: 158 billion baht and the private sector 100 billion baht). The project will serve as a way to fundamentally improve the EEC’s area, and attract further investment internationally and domestically. Altogether, the project is expected to contribute 650 billion baht to the economy and will be responsible for creating 16,000 jobs directly as well as 100,000 jobs in adjacent sectors. At the end of the concession, all assets will be transferred to the state.