Second half of Thai-Chinese high-speed rail project to start early next year: Thai official

The construction of major parts of the Thai-Chinese high-speed rail project linking Bangkok with Nakhon Ratchasima in northeastern Thailand is scheduled to get started early next year, said a senior Thai official here on Monday.

The third phase of the rail construction between Kaeng Khoi and Nakhon Ratchasima and the fourth phase between Bangkok and Kaeng Khoi, each covering a 119 km distance, are scheduled to begin in March and April next year respectively, said Sucheep Suksawang, chief construction engineer of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), which is in charge of the 179 billion Baht (about 5.26 billion U.S. dollars), some 253-km-long high-speed rail project.

A bidding for the third section of the construction is expected to open during the upcoming September and January so that the construction will begin next March whereas a bidding for the fourth section is expected during the upcoming November and March so that the construction will begin next April, the official said.

In another development, the first section of the rail construction, covering 3.5 km between Klang Dong and Pang Asok in Nakhon Ratchasima, is expected to finish in the upcoming October, according to Highway Department Director General Thanin Somboon.

Meanwhile, a bidding for the construction of the second section between Sikhio and Kudchik in Nakhon Ratchasima covering 11 km is expected next month, Sucheep said.

The winning bidder will be picked in November as the beginning of the construction of the second section, the SRT official said.