Chiang Mai to get public transport upgrade

16 Jan 2012

Thai government ministers have agreed in principle to several new transportation projects for Chiang Mai. A government spokesperson said that among the projects slated for Thailand’s second city are a high-speed train service connecting it to Bangkok and a mass transit system.

Following a special Thai cabinet meeting in Chiang Mai yesterday, assistant prime minister Kittiratt Naranong told reporters that the government planned to allocate 400 billion Baht for a total of 130 projects in Chiang Mai and the northern regions of Thailand.

Currently trains between Bangkok and Chiang Mai take up to 15 hours to cover the roughly 700km distance between the two. Trains are often delayed, especially in adverse weather conditions such as flooding, and journey times are repeatedly double that of long-distance buses.

The lengthy rail travel times between Thailand’s two principal cities has caused successive governments to raise the issue of improving tracks and introducing a faster Bangkok-Chiang Mai train service.

As well as transport infrastructure improvements, the funds will be used for flood prevention schemes. Around 60 billion Baht will be spent on reservoirs, drainage channels and a tree planting programme in Northern Thailand.

These measures for the north as well as planned flood control reservoirs in the north-central provinces of Phitsanulok and Chai Nat would delay monsoon rain run-off from the north inundating Lopburi, Ayutthaya and Bangkok. In 2011, flood waters left parts of Bangkok and the central areas of Thailand under water for almost three months.

Tags: public transport upgrade