State Railway of Thailand Presses for Government Bailout.

Oct. 1--The loss-ridden State Railway of Thailand will remain in debt forever, even if it is privatised, unless the government helps meet the cost of infrastructure, the same way it assisted the skytrain and subway, according to Saravudh Dhamasiri, the SRT governor.

"New trains are useless as long as the government doesn't provide financial support for infrastructure, which includes a double-track line, fencing and rolling stock," he said.

The Bangkok skytrain, and the subway now under construction, benefit from roads and traffic control systems built and financed by the government. In contrast, the SRT is both the infrastructure and service provider. As a result, it bears the acquisition and maintenance costs.

Maintenance and other overheads cost the SRT at least two billion baht a year, while fuel costs are increasing by at least 400 million baht a year. The wage bill for 18,000 employees eats up 52 percent of the total monthly expenditure.

The SRT estimates that it needs 214.14 billion baht in investment to lay a double-track network of 2,468 kilometres nationwide. Consultants are to be hired soon to make a feasibility study.

The SRT's existing single-track network totals 4,045 km. To cope with the limitations, the SRT has borne the cost of laying an additional track along 234 km of main routes.

The first phase, totalling 75 km from Bang Sue to Taling Chan, and Klong Rangsit station to Ban Pachi, Ayutthaya, has been completed and controls are being put in place with a view to becoming operational within two years.