As delays hit China-Thailand high speed railway, Bangkok counts the cost of paying its own way

Thailand chose to forgo Chinese funding for a planned US$5.4 billion rail link, but money’s been tight since the pandemic hit its tourism-reliant economy

Its holding up belt and road plans for a pan-Southeast Asia railway, but analysts say Bangkok’s still in Beijing’s good books – as a recent submarine deal shows

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Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha (R) meets with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bangkok, Thailand, Oct. 15, 2020.
Photo: Xinhua/Zhang Keren

Published: 9:30am, 14 Feb 2022

Every day, Laos’ first high speed train linking its capital Vientiane to Boten, a city on the Chinese border, leaves the station and brings goods and people up and down along its 414km route.

The daily routine started in December following the completion of the rail link that took five years to build.

In the northeast of Thailand, a planned rail line is being constructed to connect with the Laos section. The route, part of Beijing’s global trade strategy known as the Belt and Road Initiative, aims to connect Chinese trade and tourists to mainland Southeast Asia and through to the Strait of Malacca.

A train is seen in December on the China-built railway that connects Vientiane in Laos to the Chinese city of Kunming. Photo: Getty Images

But in Thailand, it could be at least a decade before Vientiane and the Thai capital Bangkok, situated more than 600km apart, could be connected via the high speed railway.

The Thai section comprises three parts: the 253km Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima section, the 356km Nakhon Ratchasima-Nong Khai section and a 16km track connecting Nong Khai to Vientiane. The Thai government expects the first phase to be operational in 2026.

Thailand’s fiscal challenges, and the Covid-19 pandemic, could yet derail the construction timetable, however. In 2016, the government of Prayuth Chan-ocha reached the conclusion that Thailand would fund its section of the railway, with China only providing technical and design assistance following Bangkok’s 2017 signing of deals with Chinese state enterprises. The agreements include a contract that covers the detailed engineering design and the hiring of Chinese technical advisers.

That only came after lengthy years-long talks between Thailand and China that began long before Prayuth took power in a 2014 coup. The agreements were publicly scrutinised at the time because China reportedly requested the right to manage the land around the railway station, an issue which could affect Thai sovereignty.