Thai Railways in the Era of Development, 1958-1973: Their Response to Road-oriented Policy

Abstract

This article aims to analyze how Thai railways responded to the various problems in the era of “development.” This era began during the Sarit regime, at which time the first high-standard road, the Friendship Highway, was opened. Sarit regarded this road as a symbol of “development,” and adopted a marked road-oriented policy, while attitude toward railways became correspondingly cold. Under his policy of “beautification,” he tried to abolish railway lines in inner Bangkok. The construction of new lines, suspended because of the shortage of budget, was cancelled with a few exceptions.
The loss of customers on existing routes was a further serious problem for the railways as road transport became more competitive with the progress of road development. Rail traffic on the Northeastern Line decreased rapidly after the opening of the Friendship Highway, but the railways responded by taking various measures such as increasing the speed and frequency of services, and reducing of tariffs. As a result, the transport volume of both passenger and freight increased during the era, even though the competition with road transport became more severe.
Railways faced various problems in the era of “development.” The largest factor that enabled railways to overcome them was their accurate response, recognizing their predicament and changing the offensive strategy of expanding new networks into the defensive one of maintaining existing networks.