Construction of the 145-kilometre Lop Buri-Pak Nam Pho double-track train, which includes the country’s longest elevated stretch out at 19km, will be completed on schedule by the end of this year, the Department of Rail Transport (DRT) said on Thurs.
The particular department’s update came as Pichet Kunathammarak, director-general of the DRT, led a group to inspect progress in the construction project within Nakhon Sawan.
This project is divided into three main contracts, one of which is installing the train signalling system that is at this point 26. 33% comprehensive, said Mr Pichet.
The other two contracts are for construction.
One is for any 29km section working between Ban Klap in Saraburi and Khok Krathiam within Lop Buri, and the other is for a section spanning Tha Khae in Lop Buri and Pak Nam Pho in Nakhon Sawan, which is 116km long, he stated.
The 29km section comprises a 19km elevated stretch and a 10km one at walk out, which are being constructed along Highway Number 366. The structure is 81. 72% finished, said Mister Pichet.
A source said the particular elevated section is needed because it is on a section of the highway that was chosen as a bypass around Lop Buri’s internal city zone where Phra Prang Mike Yot, a 13th-century temple, and San Phra Kan, a historic Brahman shrine, are located in Lop Buri.
More space necessary for the construction of the double-track railway was obtained through land expropriation, said the original source.
The 19km elevated section of the railway is usually between 10 metres and 20m over the ground and has just one station, which is designed to serve long-haul locomotives and freight trains, said the source.
The 116km section is being constructed entirely at walk out and has 17 stations, including six brand new ones, said Mister Pichet, adding it also includes a centralised traffic control creating which is being integrated Nakhon Sawan province.
Building of this section can be 75. 72% full, he said.
The current Lop Buri station remains in use for the Bangkok-Lop Buri route along with other short-haul services. The department plans to work alongside the Department associated with Land Transport’s Lop Buri office to provide bus services plying the old and new Lop Buri teach stations in the future.