Calls to speed up link to Laos-China line
PUBLISHED : 1 DEC 2021 AT 05:16
Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob is briefed on the progress of the Bangkok-Nong Khai high-speed train project on March 29, 2021. The line will connect with another track from China to Laos, which will be opened on Dec 3. Apichart Jinakul
The government is being advised to speed up the development of a rail network linking Thailand's rail system with the Laos-China Railway, which connects Kunming in China's Yunnan province with Vientiane -- the capital of Laos.
Danucha Pichayanan, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), said the government needs to accelerate conducting an agreement with its Lao and Chinese counterparts to build a seamless linkage between Thailand's rail system and the Laos-China Railway.
The Laos-China railway is the first railway project built with Chinese investment, jointly operated by China and Laos and directly connected to China's railway network.
The railway is a docking project between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert itself from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub.
The electrified passenger and cargo railway is built with the full application of Chinese management and technical standards. The construction of the project started in December 2016 and is scheduled to be completed and open to traffic on Dec 3, 2021.
The economic and trade impact of the Laos-China Railway is expected to be substantial.
The cost of shipments from Vientiane to Kunming in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan will be cut by 40-50% or US$30 per tonne, along with a 20-40% cost reduction on domestic routes, according to a World Bank report "From landlocked to land-linked: unlocking the potential of Lao-China rail connectivity".
Exports from Laos to China were worth $1.7 billion in 2019 and could expand by about 20% per year, a report by UN Comtrade has said.
The governments of Laos and China have also signed an agreement for China to import more goods from Laos, especially agricultural products such as corn, bananas, cassava and beans, beef and other products, by shipping to Yunnan.
The rail link will also attract more investments from China and other countries, mainly in agriculture, livestock and mining.
China is by far the top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Laos, accounting for 87.7% of cumulative FDI flows into the country or $967.7 million as of the end of 2020.
Investors from Thailand and Vietnam were second and third with shares of 4.9% and 2.5%, respectively.
More investments from China will be drawn to sites in Laos along the rail line, particularly in special economic zones (SEZs), for products to be manufactured in Laos and sent to China for export via the rail network that now stretches from China to Europe.
Thailand's leading industrial estate developer, Amata Corporation, has won approval from Vientiane to develop a large-scale SEZ in northern Laos.
Laos-China railway will also increase the number of tourists, especially from China, as it will significantly reduce travel time.
Prior to the pandemic, Laos was attracting between 800,000 and one million tourists a year from China, and the figure is projected to expand by 40-50% once international travel resumes, said Soulivath Souvannachoumkham, director-general of the External Finance and Debt Management Department at the Ministry of Finance.
Currently, logistics and travel between Thailand and Laos are facilitated via the one-metre gauge track rail linking Thailand's Nong Khai and Tha Na Laeng station in Vientiane.
Thailand's Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (Neda) has already supported the construction of a one-metre gauge track of 5.35 kilometres in length linking Tha Na Laeng station to northern Vientiane. The project is 70% complete.
However, there is still a missing link between the existing rail system and the Laos-China Railway which is located in southern Vientiane.
Mr Danucha proposed the Thai government speed up a tripartite agreement to develop seamless logistics infrastructure between Thailand and the China-Laos Railway, saying Thailand is also developing connectivity to the flagship Eastern Economic Corridor and related projects such as inland container depots or dry ports.
"Thailand may lose an opportunity to boost trade, investment and tourism if the country ignores speeding up forming an agreement with China and Laos," he said.
"Better or seamless rail linkage will enhance economic opportunity and expansion of trade, investment and tourism between Thailand, Laos and China."
Thailand and China run programme to train railway talent
- THAILAND
- Tuesday, 30 Nov 2021
2:46 PM MYT
BANGKOK (The Nation/Asia News Network): As the China-Thailand bilateral railway talent development cooperation continued apace, more vocational institutions in Thailand have joined the training programme, importing technologies and curriculum development schemes from China to help Thailand foster railway talents.
"I want to bring what I have learned in China about railways back to serve Thailand," said Kantithat Danaut, expecting the construction of the China-Thailand railway to pick up speed.
The Nakhon Ratchasima province in northeastern Thailand, where the 23-year-old boy was born, is expected to be linked with the capital Bangkok by the China-Thailand railway that has started construction in 2017.
Encouraged by his mother, Kantithat took part in a Chinese high-speed railway training programme in 2017, which is the beginning of his high-speed railway dream.
Under the joint training programe for high-speed railway talent development between China and Thailand, Kantithat and 39 other Thai students first received one-month language training at the Confucius Institute at Khon Kaen University, and then went to the Wuhan Railway Vocational College of Technology (WRC) in central China's Hubei Province for an eight-month training to learn to be a high-speed railway technician.
Recalling his stay in Wuhan, Kantithat said it is the help of his teachers and senior schoolmates that made him be able to improve his Chinese and learn about high-speed trains.
So excited when first taking China's high-speed railway train, Kantithat said it was comfortable, safe and fast, "you can feel how fast it is when there is the other high-speed train running from the opposite direction."
Back to Thailand from China, Kantithat then went to Japan as a technician intern, while he wanted to go to China to continue learning about high-speed railway next year.
As the bilateral railway talent development cooperation continued apace, more vocational institutions in Thailand have joined the training program, importing technologies and curriculum development schemes from China, to help Thailand foster railway talents, and bringing Thai youths like Kantithat closer to their dream of a railway driver or technician.
Sitting at the controls of a state-of-the-art simulator, Preeyaporn Kaenavong and her classmates were trying to accelerate a train out of a station.
The "virtual train" gathers pace as they guard against unknown hazards ahead -- from adverse weather conditions to dangers such as obstacles on the track.
Preeyaporn and her classmates are operating a train driver simulator, the centerpiece of the Lu Ban High-Speed Railway Institute, which was established in Banphai Industrial and Community Education College in Thailand's northeastern province of Khon Kaen, in a collaborative effort with the WRC in China.
The simulation driving training base was a gift from WRC's partner Zhengzhou J&T Hi-Tech Co., a company headquartered in central China's Henan Province.
The Lu Ban High-Speed Railway Institute is teaching prospective drivers and engineers how to operate Thailand's under-construction high-speed railway.
"I want to go to China to continue my study and board a high-speed train to experience the speed," said Preeyaporn.
Junyar Pabu, former head and now adviser of the Banphai Industrial and Community Education College, said in recent years, Thailand's Ministry of Education has been enhancing cooperation with its Chinese counterpart and encouraging closer cooperation between Thai and Chinese vocational colleges to cultivate railway talents. "This is how the Lu Ban High-Speed Railway Institute was established."
Besides the WRC, the Banphai college is also cooperating with China's vocational colleges in southwestern provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan as well as Chongqing Municipality, Junyar said.
Under the support of Chinese partner colleges, Thailand's vocational colleges have made great progress in railway talent development, especially in curriculum development, teacher training, teaching hardware and joint training programs, he said.
"The China-Thailand railway talent development cooperation fully demonstrates that the Belt and Road Initiative has promoted the common development and prosperity along the routes," Junyar said.
Both Thailand and China will benefit from the China-Thailand railway, he said, hoping the construction work can accelerate.
"I'm waiting for the China-Thailand railway, hoping it can be completed as soon as possible so that I can contribute to its development," Kantithat said.
