The government has tasked the Department of Rail Transport (DRT) and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) with setting up a procurement plan, which will include setting an operation budget, for the new trains.
It is hoped that the new battery-electric trains will be up and running by 2023 and will debut at Bang Sue Grand Station in Chatuchak, Bangkok, which is expected to open in the coming months.
SRT and DRT will work alongside educational institutes to put together the design for the battery-electric trains. The team will also study electricity management to ensure the new trains are efficient.
According to The Nation, the ministry will study and design the new railcars this year, modify fossil-fuel locomotives into battery-electric ones in 2022 and conduct trial runs in 2023. The procurement plan for battery-electric railcars will run until 2024, with the ministry also planning to procure 20 battery shunting locomotives during that period.