News Forum - Thailand aims to complete high-speed rail link with China by 2028

[Thaiger]

Thailand aims to finish constructing the high-speed rail link which will connect China with the Land of Smiles by 2028, according to the Transport and Foreign Affairs ministries. As it stands, the project is only 5% complete – casting doubts on Thailand’s ability to fulfil their recent pledge to get the job done in the next six years. Beijing plans to link Yunnan in southern China all the way to Singapore via high-speed train, but can’t do it without Thailand’s cooperation, who have proven to be not as hot on project management and time-keeping as China and Laos. The train […]

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[Rainmaker]

Very big decision here. I believe that the train would help the tourists economy for Thailand.  But. Guess what. Politics   Always gets in the way of doing the right things.  Do you get farther in bed with China and lose other relationships or stand in the middle of the road and get ran over. Difficult decision. A lot of other countries are trying to keep China from being number one. So it’s a race right now who will be the next world power since the USA is losing ground 

[ExpatPattaya]

32 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

So it’s a race right now who will be the next world power since the USA is losing ground 

The United States enjoys overwhelming advantages over China. The United States outweighs China in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), technology, and military spending. China’s GDP is 15 percent of global GDP, compared to 24 percent of the United States.

The United States retains a technological edge in key areas like command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and air, surface, and undersea weapon systems. 

[palooka]

the project is only 5% complete – casting doubts on Thailand’s ability to fulfil their recent pledge to get the job done in the next six years. the project will not be completed for decades, according to experts.

That's six years Thai time.

the project will cost US$12 billion and analysts are not convinced that Thailand can really afford it after the pandemic.

No money no honey, until all those billionaires start arriving.

[DesperateOldHand]

1 hour ago, Rainmaker said:

Very big decision here. I believe that the train would help the tourists economy for Thailand.  But. Guess what. Politics   Always gets in the way of doing the right things.  Do you get farther in bed with China and lose other relationships or stand in the middle of the road and get ran over. Difficult decision. A lot of other countries are trying to keep China from being number one. So it’s a race right now who will be the next world power since the USA is losing ground 

The U.S. has been way behind for some time - in a variety of ways many can't comprehend. 

[TJM]

It seems China really wants to complete this railroad extension through Thailand but is not offering, convincing  financial incentives. I am pretty sure Thailand would promptly agree for this extension for the right price.  It doesn’t appear to be a geo-strategic decision…

[Fanta]

Thailand will cry poor until China dumps a ton of money into it. Then it will go the same as most large Thai construction projects go. Over budget, over time. 

[Leo]

And we've seen what happened to Laos.

[DesperateOldHand]

33 minutes ago, Leo said:

And we've seen what happened to Laos.

Granted, a completely different situation altogether. 

[Bertik]

Beware of Grreks bearing gifts

 

[Noble_Design]

18 hours ago, ExpatPattaya said:

The United States retains a technological edge in key areas like command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and air, surface, and undersea weapon systems. 

Amazing that with all those money spent they still lose to a bunch of Vietnamese rice farmers and Afghan goat herders

[Leeshard]

There seems to be a confusion in this article as to whether this will be a passenger or freight line. Of course it can be both but freight can’t run at 250 kph which means passengers trains can’t either. If it’s mainly a passenger route then it’s just a vanity project that will make massive losses for the Thai government and will never remotely recover its construction costs let alone its running costs.  Outside of Bangkok the cities it serves through Thailand and Laos have just a few hundred thousand  population each and can anyway be reached by air in an hour for under 1,000 baht. On into China the journey will take many hours and can again be done infinitely quicker and almost certainly cheaper by air. Still, if you have the time and money the view from the train window through Laos is spectacular. 

[ExpatPattaya]

On 7/19/2022 at 11:51 AM, Noble_Design said:

Amazing that with all those money spent they still lose to a bunch of Vietnamese rice farmers and Afghan goat herders

Well of course since the 1950's the military industrial complex has been staging the "wars" for profit, in reality there have been no countries who have attacked the US since WW2.  Protecting you country is one thing, Invading other countries is another