Silver lining to Sino-Thai derailment
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After the failure of negotiations with the Chinese government, the junta plans to slash the length of the delayed high-speed railway by two-thirds.
I suggest we should use this problem as an opportunity to re-examine the whole project. The main benefit of a high-speed train is that it saves time, but on a route of just 250 kilometres (Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima), the time saving won’t be great. Also, the plan to use Chinese technology along with low-cost Chinese financing has now been scrapped.
Instead of bulling ahead with a short route and Chinese technology, we should trade the higher speed for more benefits, such as a longer route, more reliable technology, better financing and technology transfer and/or a dual-track system.
Let’s turn the failed negotiations into an opportunity to get a better deal.
Burin Kantabutra
