Controversial train work begins

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From Wall Street Journal

 

PANG-ASOK, Thailand— Li Guanghe has built some of the most technically complex railroads in China. Now he faces his toughest challenge yet: working abroad to deliver a flagship rail project in Thailand that could make or break China’s hopes of selling high-speed trains abroad.

 

Exporting high-speed rail is one of the ambitious elements of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative, which aims to upgrade trade and transport networks from Africa to the Pacific. But despite throwing its diplomatic weight behind high-speed rail, China has struggled to convince would-be partners to commit to the costly technology.

 

After years of stalling, Thailand in November started work on the $5.5 billion first phase of a high-speed railway that Beijing hopes will eventually form part of a China-to-Singapore route—a potentially lucrative prize for Chinese rail contractors. Now the heat is on Mr. Li to complete the initial 157-mile stretch connecting Bangkok with the city of Nakhon Ratchasima.

 

“There’s a lot of pressure,” said Mr. Li, a chief engineer with state-run China Railway Design Corp. , and the man in charge of the project. Construction vehicles rumbled over the soil of this freshly turned site in Pang-Asok, a small rural town in northeast Thailand surrounded by cornfields and foothills.

 

The proposed 2,200-mile Pan-Asia Railway would run south from China to Singapore, via Laos, Thailand—its 1,000-mile central section—and Malaysia. The system would be completely new; there is no high-speed rail in Southeast Asia today.

 

Continues at

https://www.wsj.com/articles/railroaded-the-chinese-high-speed-train-network-no-one-else-really-wants-1526644804

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From South China Morning Post (24 Apr.)

China wants to fund Thailand’s US$12 billion high-speed railway – but is the kingdom on track for more debt than it can handle?

• The Export-Import Bank of China has offered Thailand a low-interest loan for the construction of a belt and road project linking the country with Kunming and Laos
• But repayment is just one concern, as analysts are uncertain Bangkok will ever turn a profit from the project

Despite Thailand’s vow to rely on domestic funding as it expands its network of high-speed railways, it could soon accept the offer of a low-interest loan from the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM) – raising concerns about whether the country is on the verge of falling into a debt trap.

 

A memorandum of cooperation between China, Laos and Thailand will be signed during the Belt and Road Frorum, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, cementing a partnership in the

pan-Asia rail project that looks to reach the Southeast Asian market via Kunming, in China’s Yunnan province.

 

Thailand recently began construction on a phase of its high-speed railway that links its northeastern region to Kunming via. The route, the first high-speed rail project in Thailand and Laos, is seen as a potential channel for China to transport goods to South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), as well as the Malay Peninsula.

But as negotiations and construction progress, concerns are mounting over how the two Southeast Asian countries can take full advantage of the route’s promised economic potential, as well as how to navigate the alleged debt-laden diplomacy in Beijing’s vision to revive the historical Silk Road.

Continue with pics and video

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3007551/china-wants-fund-thailands-us12-billion-high-speed-railway