On Friday, Deputy Transport Minister Chatt Kuldiloke said he he had ordered a study on the ministry’s proposal to terminate the first section of the line, running from Rangsit in Pathum Thani to Bang Sue in Bangkok.
The main reason the ministry wanted to terminate the Red Line project at Bang Sue was that it would overlap with the future extension of the Airport Rail Link from Phaya Thai station to Don Mueang airport, as well as a planned international high-speed mainline rail route, he said.
This came two days after the conclusion of bidding for the construction the Red Line, supervised by State Railway of Thailand, between Bang Sue and Rangsit.
The section the first part of the north-south Red Line route that will terminate in Maha Chai in Samut Sakhon _ is tentatively scheduled to be running in 2014.
Another Red Line is also planned, running east to west between Sala Ya in Nakhon Pathom and Hua Mak in Bangkok. The two routes would connect at Bang Sue.
But yesterday Mr Jarupong said the ministry had no plans to cancel the Rangsit-Bang Sue project.
“The Bang Sue-Rangsit section of the Red Line must go ahead as the [rest of the Red Line] project could not continue without it,” Mr Jarupong said.
He said Pol Lt Gen Chatt’s concern that the route would overlap with the airport link and a planned high-speed inter-country rail project sounded reasonable but it needed to be considered more thoroughly.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/311528/jarupong-says-red-line-rail-section-will-go-ahead
