Thailand Government plans to establish a railway regulatory body to carry out the railway projects. “It is time that Thailand has a railway regulatory body, to be in charge of licensing and monitoring service quality,” Sumeth Ongkittikul, transport and logistics policy research director at Thailand Development Research Institute said.
according to Sumeth, the operators of the railway -the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), BTS and MRT exercised licensing power. While other public-transport drivers need licences particular to their functions, train drivers do not need to seek licences from any agency. “Without a central body, service quality checks are neglected,” he said.
According to a government transport body chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, at least 10 mass-transit projects planned for Bangkok will be put to tender between this year and 2019. About five are part of the THB 1.8 trillion (USD 51 billion) mega-project programme, which includes high-speed rail projects.
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