Thailand: Thailand Transportation Profile

Transport in Thailand is varied and chaotic, with no one dominant means of transport. Bus transport dominates in long distances and Bangkok, with motorbikes dominating in rural areas for short trips, supplanting bicycles. Road transportation is the primary form of freight transport across the country. Slow rail travel has long been a rural long-distance transport mechanism, though plans are underway to expand services with high-speed rail lines extending to several major regions of Thailand.

Domestic air transport, which until recently had been dominated by a select few air carriers, has recently seen a surge in popularity due in large part to the expanding services of low cost carriers. In Bangkok, Pattaya, and other large cities, public motorbike taxis take people door to door. An overwhelming number of taxis can also be found in Bangkok. Since the country's first rapid rail transit line opened in 1999 in Bangkok, daily ridership on Bangkok's various transit lines has risen to over 800,000, with multiple additional lines either under construction or being proposed.

Private automobiles, whose rapid growth contributed to Bangkok's notorious traffic congestion over the past two decades, have risen in popularity, especially among tourists, expats, the upper class, and the growing middle class. A motorway network across Thailand has been gradually implemented, with motorways completed in Bangkok and most of central Thailand. Areas with navigable waterways often have boats or boat service, and many innovative means of transport exist such as tuk-tuk, vanpool, songthaew, and even elephants in rural areas.

Rail transport in Thailand

Interest in rail transport in Thailand can be traced to when King Rama V was given a gift of a model railway from Queen Victoria.

SRT was founded as the Royal State Railways of Siam (RSR) in 1890. Construction of the Bangkok-Ayutthaya railway (71 km or 44 mi), the first part of the Northern Line, was started in 1891 and completed on May 23, 1892.

The Thonburi-Phetchaburi line (150 km or 93 mi), later the Southern Line, was opened on June 19, 1903.

The Northern Line was originally built as 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge, but in September 1919 it was decided to standardize on 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) meter gauge and the Northern Line was regauged during the next ten years. On July 1, 1951, RSR changed its name to the present State Railway of Thailand.

In 2005 SRT had 4,070 km (2,530 mi) of track, all of it meter gauge. Nearly all is single-track, although some important sections around Bangkok are double or triple-tracked and there are plans to extend this.

The SRT has long been popularly perceived by the public as inefficient and resistant to change. Trains are usually late, and most of its equipment is old and poorly maintained. The worst financially performing state enterprise, the SRT consistently operates at a loss despite being endowed with large amounts of property and receiving large government budgets; it reported a preliminary loss of 7.58 billion baht in 2010.Recurring government attempts at restructuring and/or privatization throughout the 2000s have always been strongly opposed by the union and have not made any progress.

Operators

All intercity rail transportation is managed by the State Railway of Thailand, a government agency responsible for rail infrastructure investment as well as freight and passenger services.

In Bangkok, the Skytrain is operated by Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company Limited (BTSC) under a concession granted by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) but the investment for the structure and system were fully supported by BTSC.

The underground system is operated by Bangkok Metro Company Limited (BMCL), while whole project investments were shared by Mass Rapid Transit Authorities (MRTA) and BMCL, which all civil structures was provided by government sector and the system was provided by private sector (BMCL). The deal of contract between BMCL and MRTA are under the concession agreement for 25 years operation.

Thailand has 4,431 kilometers of meter gauge railway tracks not including mass transit lines in Bangkok. All national rail services are managed by the State Railway of Thailand. The four main lines are the Northern Line, which terminates in Chiang Mai, the Northeastern Line, which terminates at Ubon Ratchathani and the Lao border in Nong Khai Province, the Eastern Line, which terminates at the Cambodian border in Sa Kaeo Province, and the Southern Line, which terminates at the Malaysian border in Yala and Narathiwat Provinces.

Road transport in Thailand

The Thai highway network links every part of Thailand. The four-lane highways often have overhead concrete pedestrian crossings interspersed about every 250 meters in populated areas. There are no on and off ramps, highways are separated by median with breakage for U-turns, except in Bangkok where ramp style U-turns predominate.

A number of undivided two-lane highways have been converted into divided four-lane highways, greatly enhancing safety and speed. A Bangkok - Chon Buri motorway (Route 7) now links to the new airport and Eastern Seaboard.

The Thai motorway network is small. Coupled with Bangkok's extensive expressway network, the motorways provide a relief from regular traffic in Bangkok. The Thai Government is planning infrastructure investment in various "megaprojects", including motorway expansion to approximately 4,500 kilometers.

Thailand uses the expressway term for the toll road or highway network. Most of expressways are elevated with some sections on the ground level. The current expressway network covers major parts of Bangkok and suburban areas. Expressways are used to avoid heavy traffic jams in Bangkok and reduce traffic time, but are sometimes congested in rush hour.

Buses are a major method of transportation for people, freight, and small parcels, and are the most popular means of long distance travel. Tour and VIP class long-distance buses tend to be luxurious, while city- and other-class buses are often very colorful with paint schemes and advertising.

There are fundamentally two types of long-distance buses in Thailand:

those run by The Transport Company, Ltd., (TCL), the state-owned bus company.[5] Known to Thais by the initials บขส (pronounced baw-kaw-saw), this 80-year-old company was formed by the government to ensure that citizens in even the most far-flung localities had access to the capital city, Bangkok. TCL buses are easily identified by the large golden coat of arms appliqued to each side of the bus.

those operated by private bus companies. These are too numerous to list and offer hundreds of routes in various service categories (express, VIP, local, air conditioned, etc.)

Local buses and Bangkok city buses come in various sizes, types, and prices, from half size, full size, double length, open window, fan, and air conditioned.

Air transport

Major international airports

Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) (Old Bangkok Int'l)
Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) (New Bangkok Int'l)
Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX)
Mae Fah Luang International Airport (CEI)
Hat Yai International Airport (HDY)
Phuket International Airport (HKT)
Krabi International Airport (KBV)
Samui International Airport (USM)
Surat Thani International Airport (URT)
Udon Thani International Airport (UTH)
U-Tapao International Airport (UTP)