State Railway Thailand signs 5 high-speed train project contracts worth B40bn
Bangkok-Korat route to open in 2025
The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) on Thursday signed five more contracts, worth about 40 billion baht, for work on the Thai-Chinese high-speed railway project between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat).
Chayatham Phromsorn, permanent secretary for transport, presided over the signing of the contracts at the Transport Ministry for the Bangkok-Nong Khai high-speed train development.
They were part of the first stage of the project from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima.
The contracts on construction work, covering a distance of 101 kilometres, will take 1,080 days to complete.
The first, worth 4.2 billion baht, is for a tunnel between Muak Lek-Lam Takhong covering a distance of 12.2km. Navarat Pattanakarn Plc was awarded the contract.
The second is for construction work between Bandaima-Lam Takhong, covering a distance of 26.1km and costing 9.8 billion baht. Thai Engineer and Industry Co was the contractor.
The third, worth 7.79 billion baht, is for construction work between Lam Takhong and Sikhiu; and Kudjik and Khok Kruad, with a combined distance of about 37.5km. The contract was awarded to Italian-Thai Development Plc.
The fourth, worth 7.7 billion baht, is for construction between Khok Kruad and Nakhon Ratchasima, with a distance of 12.4km. SPTK Joint Venture Co won the contract.
The fifth, worth 8.5 billion baht, is for construction between Saraburi and Kaeng Khoi covering a distance of 13km. Civil Engineering Plc was the contractor.
The project’s first phase, a 253km stretch from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima, is part of the Bangkok-Nong Khai high-speed railway project, which covers a distance of 608km.
There are a total of 14 contracts involved in the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima rail route, worth 179 billion baht. The route is due to open in 2025.
In a separate development on Thursday, a construction company petitioned the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) about alleged irregularities in rewarding the project to another contestant.
Chaithas Tunghirun, representative of ITD-CREC NO.10 JV, said the company won the price bidding for the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima high-speed train for Contract 3-1 covering 30.2km kilometres according to an SRT announcement on Sept 15 this year.
However, another contender, which was the only one that was considered by the SRT as being under-qualified, petitioned the Comptroller General’s Department.
The department on Oct 21 replied that it disagreed with the SRT in disqualifying the company.
His company now wanted the NACC to examine the decisions.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2026039/srt-signs-5-projects-worth-b40bn
