KRNA-led consortium selected for HSR Management project in Thailand

Daejeon, South Korea (Urban Transport News): The Korea Rail Network Authority (KRNA), a government-owned agency established for construction and management of railways including high speed, conventional and urban rail infrastructures, has been selected as the preferred bidder for a high-speed railway management project in Thailand. This project is being monitored and supervised by the Eastern Economic Corridor Office of Thailand (EECO). The EECO is a government agency in charge of planning, budgeting, and implementing economic development projects in three provinces southeast of Bangkok, Thailand. The Korea Rail Network Authority (KRNA) has formed a consortium with 13 major multinational companies to win the project, which will cost a 156 billion won project award. The Eastern Economic Corridor Office of Thailand (EECO) has signed the contract with The Korea Rail Network Authority (KRNA) on this Tuesday. According to the contract, the KRNA-led consortium will manage a 220-km long high-speed rail network which is proposed to be built to link three International Airports namely Don Mueang International Airport, Suvarnabhumi Airport, and U-Tapao International Airport. This high-speed rail project is scheduled to open in 2023. The total cost of this public-private partnership (PPP) project is about USD 8 trillion South Korean won. The Korea Rail Network Authority (KRNA) plans to deploy a total of 13 high-speed rail experts in this project from the design stage, mainly in the field of railway systems such as high-speed trains and railroad signals. In October 2019, the Government of Thailand and Charoen Pokphand Holding-led consortium had signed a USD7.4 billion contract to build a high-speed rail network to connect three major international airports. This high-speed rail project is one of the major infrastructure projects to be developed in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) investment zone.