Japan has agreed to develop a high speed rail line in Thailand, according to local media reports.
The Bangkok Post has reported this week that a high-speed train linking Bangkok and Chiang Mai is “in the later stages of development”.
The development is said to be the product of meetings between Shinzo Abe – the prime minister of Japan – and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Recent talks resulted in the signing of the Dawei memorandum, which sees senior government officials from Japan, Thailand and Myanmar agree to a number of trade and economic initiatives.
“I’m convinced the signing of a memorandum of intent on Dawei Special Economic Zone will create an opportunity to strengthen economic partnership between Japan and Asean, and Japan and Thailand ahead of the launch of an Asean Economic Community,” Abe was quoted by the Bangkok Post following the meetings.
While no actual details of the agreement have been announced, Prayut reportedly believes the economic zone, once installed, will become “a new distribution centre of the world”.
Prayut was said to have also announced that Thailand and Japan had also agreed to begin the development of a high-speed rail line between the country’s capital, Bangkok, and central city Chiang Mai.
Japan will also reportedly help with the development of Bangkok’s planned Red Line mass-transit system.
Japan is also said to be interested in a pair of other lines – one from Kanchanaburi, on the Thai border with Myanmar, to Rayong and the Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo, and the other from Mukdahan to Mae Sot, the Bangkok Post said.
Quoting a Thai official, the local paper said Japan and Thailand “plan to develop” the two lines “in the future”.