Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai government is pursuing anambitious plan to build a rail network linking Thailand to other countries inthe region, like Singapore and China.

The government has already begun the construction of someroutes and will keep calling bids for the project, according Thai DeputyMinister of Transport Pailin Chuchottaworn. Thai people will be able to takehigh-speed trains from a railway station in Bang Sue, Bangkok, to Beijing,China and Singapore in the future, he added.

That will be possible once the construction of four routesfor Shinkansen is completed and the Bang Sue railway station will be a hub ofthe “Trans-ASEAN Line”.

Under the government’s plan to make Thailand the logisticshub of ASEAN, the high-speed trains will be at the heart of the country’s newinfrastructure system. It will be the first time Thailand will have such amodern transport network, which will cover 3,193 kilometres at a cost of about2.07 trillion THB (67.3 billion USD).

The rail route will link Bang Sue with Chiang Mai in theNorth, Laos in the Northeast, Cambodia in the East and Malaysia in the South.

The route will make transport more convenient and areexpected to drive the national economy forward in the long term, the officialnoted.

The first route, a Thai-Sino project linking Bangkok andNong Khai in the Northeast, is now under construction and scheduled to becompleted by 2023. The 608-km line will serve as the main transport system to Laos,which is next to Nong Khai.

From the border line, another rail route will run to the Laocapital of Vientiane, and the last leg will take passengers to Mohan, a bordertown in Yunnan Province, China.

The Lao government is also in the process of buildinganother rail section connecting its capital with Nong Khai.

Bang Sue will be a grand station, expected to be the largestin ASEAN, according to the plan. The four-storey station will cover an area of300,000 square metres and is planned to be surrounded by commercial areas. Thestation will also be connected with Bangkok’s urban rail lines and rail routesto upcountry provinces.

Ratthaphum Parichatpricha, the chief engineer at theEngineering Institute of Thailand, said ASEAN can change from a user to adeveloper of the high-speed rail technology if the bloc continues to supportrail transport and related businesses.

Thailand is preparing a new agreement on railway industrystandards with Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, as they are also spending a hugeamount of money building various modes of train transport, from high-speedsystem to subways, he said.-VNA