Illustrative image. (Photo: www.thestar.com.my)Bangkok (VNA) - Thai cabinet has asked the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) to quickly design and build a secondbridge from Nong Khai province to Laos, to connect to the new China-Laosrailway.
Deputy PrimeMinister Anutin Charnvirakul said a meeting of the government's committee onthe Thai-Lao-Chinese railway, which he chaired on January 14, ordered the SRTto quickly make the new bridge a reality, the Bangkok Post reported.
It wouldcross the Mekong River from Nong Khai to Laos and facilitate cargo transportthrough the three countries on the transnational railway. The committee gavethe green light for the SRT to request a budget for the project.
The deputyprime minister said the Chinese-Lao railway started operating on December 2 andwould bring economic development from western China through Laos to Thailandwhen the railway extends to Thailand. It would cut cargo transport costsbetween China and Thailand via Laos by between 30 and 50 percent.
With theopening of the Chinese-Lao railway, cross-border cargo transport between Thailandand China was already one day faster than previous conventional transport andthe cost was down by 25 percent. The railwaytransports vegetables and fruit, everyday products, machinery, computerequipment, electrical appliances, cars, natural rubber and processed wood, hesaid.
Late lastmonth, the Thai government set up a working group as suggested by the Ministryof Transport to better coordinate with transport authorities in Laos on theconstruction of a railway connecting thetwo neighboring countries. It is partof a high-speed rail project linking Thailand's railway system with theChina-Laos railway between Kunming in China's Yunnan province and Vientiane.
Meanwhile,the Department of Rail Transport (DRT), in collaboration with SRT, is ready toturn Nong Khai province into a logistics hub for the China-Laos high-speedrailway. The SRT is also eyeing Na Tha station in the centre of Nong Khai provincefor this purpose and is seeking funding for research and analysing options for public-privatepartnerships./.
