The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and the Rail Technology Research and Development Agency (RTRDA) will join hands to support the development of rail transport innovations, helping to boost the competitiveness of the country's rail industry and lessen its reliance on imported technology.
Transport permanent secretary Chayatan Phromson said the organisations signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Friday to collaborate on rail transport development.
The partnership focuses on enhancing the capability of human resources in the rail transport industry and developing rail technology and innovations to reduce reliance on imports.
This collaboration aims to cut logistics costs while increasing the country's ability to compete with other nations in rail freight transportation and the industrial sector.
Mr Chayatan said hundreds of billions of baht have been invested in developing a new double-track train network with more than 300 kilometre-long railways, which is expected to finish later this year.
The RTRDA will next reach an agreement with the Ministry of Industry and various companies in the private sector to further develop the country's own rail transport innovations, said Mr Chayatan.
SRT governor Weeris Amrapal said the SRT and RTRDA are developing prototypes of Thai-manufactured locomotives, train carriages and train parts, aiming to assist the country's ongoing development of the rail transport system.
The SRT also plans to upgrade 500 non-air conditioned trains, as part of its railway rehabilitation plan, he said.
The improvement of the first 40 trains, under a 295.60-million-baht budget, will see the upgrading of seat cushions and air conditioning systems, renovation of restrooms, and change in power supply to save costs in the long run.