Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.13, 2019

A Study on the Barriers of the Thai Government for Development of High Speed Rail Project

Kittipong TISSAYAKORN a, Fumihiko NAKAMURA b, Shinji TANAKA c, Shino MIURA d a,b,c,d Graduate School of Urban Innovation, Yokohama National University, Kanagawa, 240 - 8501, Japan; a E - mail: [email protected] b E - mail: nakamura - fumihiko - [email protected] c E - mail: [email protected] d E - mail: miura - shino - [email protected]

Abstract: The Thailand-China High Speed Rail (HSR) project is a government to a government investment project and under construction for the first stage of Northeastern route. This HSR project will span across Thailand, Laos and Kunming and also plans to reach Malaysia and Singapore in the future. The pathway is a strategic route to increase the potential and economic opportunity for Thailand as well as supports Thailand as a regional land transportation hub in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). However, the project has some barriers that the Thai government could carefully consider to solve and protect all problems in this situation and may appear in the next phase. Especially, transit-oriented development (TOD) is one of the most influential factors to generate significantly welfare and benefits inclusive to drive the development of the sustainable HSR project as well.

Keywords: operation service, TOD, the organization and personnel, fare structure

1. INTRODUCTION

The development of the railway as the major public transportation system will create a sustainable mode of transportation, which is economically viable in the long run. In Thailand, the development of HSR system is continually and carefully undertaken since studied by the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) in 1992 (NESDC, 1992) and Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP) in 2010 (OTP, 2010). This is to ensure that the HSR system will transform public transportation in Thailand in the future. The HSR system will bring a new era for travel and new experience to passengers. It will be also an important key to national development as it will decentralize growth and prosperity countrywide. The HSR will pave the way for connectivity with the neighboring countries in the ASEAN Economic Community. In addition, it increases the various value added such as the distribution of economic to regions, the competition to other transportation modes and developing industries of the country. The main purpose of this paper is to contribute to making the mechanism of barriers form the HSR project. This research is expected to have a significant impact on the direction of transportation policies and sustainable development aiming to increase the use of HSR. As a case study, the development of High Speed Rail for regional connectivity between Bangkok and Nong Khai (Phase 1: Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima) is selected because it is the first HSR project investment and expects to operate in 2022. Furthermore, the objective of this paper attempts to (1) classify the operation technique of the first HSR project investment in

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Thailand, (2) suggest TOD strategies to development around the HSR station, (3) identify the characteristic of new organization and personnel for the HSR project and (4) advise the optimal fare structure for the first year operation as well as this research has 4 hypotheses that are essential to HSR in Thailand consist of (1) two HSR systems (Japanese system and Chinese system) can operate between Ban Sue and Ban Phachi section, (2) TOD is effective to sustainable development of HSR stations in Thailand, (3) what characteristic of new organization and panel to drive the HSR project and (4) HSR fare structure is competitive in other public transportation systems. Moreover, the methodology of this paper based on interview, document review, literature review and website review of the HSR project. The structure of the paper contains as follows: Section 2 will briefly the previous HSR experience investment and TOD. Next, Section 3 investigates the existing roadmap for HSR network development and evaluation for the project. The barriers of the Thai government that could resolve all before the project will operate in Section 4. Finally, we provide the conclusions of the paper, including suggestions for further work.

2. LITERATURE REVEW

2.1 The previous HSR experience investment

2.1.1 Japan

In 1964, Japan was the first country that operated the HSR (Tokaido Shinkansen) and traveled between Tokyo and Osaka line (515 km). This objective pursued by the planners needed to reduce the travel time between the two cities and increase the opportunity in the transportation mode. In addition, the main motivation was to promote mobility demand in this corridor due to the rapid economic growth after World War II. At present, It had a nine networks of Shinkansen lines1 serving 22 of its major cities. However, HSR did not necessarily contribute to long-term regional dispersion (Sasaki et al. (1997)). Furthermore, the studies indicated that although growth paralleled the HSR route, most of the route was selected on the basis of expected growth independent of the HSR (Haynes (1997)). Nonetheless, expectations regarding the economic gains of HSR led to political pressure and demands for HSR stations, a fact that affected the economic viability of the system through debt increases and annual losses (Imashiro (1997)). Absolutely, debt surpassed $US 200 billion by 1987 leading to a financial crisis ending with the privatization of the railway (O'Toole (2008)). Economic impact of Shinkansen showed that the economic sector boosted the benefits. Industries became highly focused on the cities of Tokyo and Osaka, resulting in the centralization of this sector in the country’s major nodes. Moreover, tourism demonstrated significant growth rising from 15% to 25% during 1964-1975. In the case of the retail industry, Tokyo would appear to be the dominant force following the operating of the shinkansen. Similarly, organizational journeys had become easier and the business travel also had increased but the number of business overnight would decrease in the hotels. Certainly, the reduction in travel time is the main impact of the Shinkansen (Daluwattel and Ando (1995) and its mean delay time of just a few minutes provides extremely high standards of reliability.

1 Akita, Hokkaido, Hokuriku, Joetsu, Kyushu, Snayo, Tohoku, Tokaido and Yamagata

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2.1.2 France

French HSR operated the Paris Sud-Est HSR route in 1981 and traveled between Paris and Lyon, 425 km. Most of the diverted passengers came from air and half of the increased TGV traffic came from newly generated trips (Bonnafous (1987)). The objective of HSR was to solve the level of congestion on the railway link. The subsequent expansion of the HSR network was carried out chiefly to serve corridors with sufficient traffic and connecting cities of significant size. The policy was to invest only in socially profitable lines. France was one of the most successful in the financial value and in the impact due to the active government (Dunn and Perl (1994)). In addition, the opening of TGV reduced journey times from Paris to Bordeaux to 3 hr, led to an immediate increase of around 50% in rail travel between 1989 and 1991 and a 17% reduction in air travel on the TGV route as a whole (Vickerman (1997)). Meanwhile, the development of the HSR in France had given priority to economic objectives so as to prove that public enterprise could make money from operating the system. Unlike other projects with these objectives, state officials did not permit any public debate on how to distribute the HSR network and were immune to any social and regional pressures. However, as the other countries, there was evidence that HSR reduced the number of overnight stays from business travelers. This was a negative impact on one of the industries that were usually most likely to benefit from HSR (Department of Transport (2011)).

2.1.3 Germany

The ICE (Inter City Express) was German HSR that connected all major cities in Germany. In German HSR construction had two objectives that consisted of (1) to solve the congestion problems and to improve connectivity between the North and South (2) to combine passenger and freight service so that support the industries. Moreover, French HSR had approached which had largely constructed a parallel network and using the existing network for access to the international connections to Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Austria (Dunn and Perl (1994)). Thus, there were considerable difference between the German strategy and the model adopted by Japan and France. The main concern in Germany was not passenger traffic, but the point was the better linkage between North Sea ports and the industrial and consumer markets in South Germany. The result showed that Germany HSR network did not build a separate HSR network, but rather upgraded existing lines. This meant that the network was shared by HSR and more conventional passenger trains together with freight trains and the country had renounced higher commercial speeds. It had been no significant impact on the economic geography of Germany resulting from HSR because there was not only a central city dominating the urban system but also less the ridership than French and Japanese HSR and less relevant factors in influencing regional development. Therefore, there had been several questions that related to financial revenue and environmental justification for investing in HSR (Albalate and Bel (2010)).

2.1.4 Spain

The first Spanish HSR was Alta Velocidad Espanol (AVE), which inaugurated in 1992 between Madrid and Seville city on the eve of the Universal Expo92. HSR in Spain aimed to promote the economic development along the region of the country. Spain had decided to construct a separate HSR network as the Japanese and French experience. Spain bought the rail technology rather than developing its own (Vickerman

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(1997)) which is another distinguishing feature from the projects implemented to country studied. Due to the small size of urban agglomerations, ridership had low level when comapred with France and Japan. All HSR routes deemed to deliver negative economic value on the market share of the air carriers (Coto-Millan et al. (2007)). The conventional rail was also affected by the AVE as it was market share fell from 14.2% to 2.8%. In addition, Gourvish (2010) evidenced that Madrid received the benefits from connection to Seville, for instance, greater centralization of businesses and population in the Spanish capital. However, the Spanish government had promised to continue expanding the HSR network because it had a very positive image with the country’s population as a sign of progress and modernity (Albalate and Bel (2010)).

2.1.5 China

Chinese HSR was the country network of passenger that dedicated HSR designed for separate speed. It is the longest HSR network in the world. Almost HSR lines were owned and operated by the China Railway Cooperation under China Railway High Speed. The first operation of HSR in China was Guangzhou to Wuhan in 2009. The HSR operation has reduced train travel time between Guangzhou to Wuhan from 12 to 3 hr. China had attempted to research and develop its HSR for using in the country and technology transfer. The advent of HSR in China had greatly reduced travel time and had transformed Chinese society and economy. Moreover, the operating time of China's HSR was shorter than others of developed countries; its "HSR economic effect" had clearly appeared. For instance, employment benefits, environmental benefits and urbanization benefits (Tang et al. 2011; Salzberg et al. 2013).

2.1.6 Korea

Korea Train eXpress (KTX) was the first HSR in Korea and operated in 2004 beacsue Korea’s government would like to boost regional development and reduce the traffic congestion along the corridor, especially resolved the problem of forecasted overcapacity demand on the Gyeongbu Line which had been a conventional railway between the two cities (Shin (2005)). KTX had been expected to cause a drastic change in customers’ perceptions of travel time. KTX reduced rail travel time between major cities by almost half and connected major cities with a two hour traveling time. The impact of KTX had been signed on the rail market share. The actual results also revealed that 28% of air passengers preferred to travel by air after its opening (Park and Ha (2006)). As for long-distance bus traffic, it dropped by 20-30% after KTX started operations and the traffic of short-distance routes (less than 100 km) increased by about 20%. There was an emphasis on socioeconomic impacts in Korea rather than on transportation impacts. At the opening time of the KTX, small and medium regional cities worried that the KTX induced straw effect and would further concentrate the population in the Seoul Capital Area. Although the KTX received much attention as a high-speed “green” mode of transportation, the voice of concern was widespread. It was also predicted that these cities should become passing tourist spots rather than destinations for overnight trips due to the reduction in transit time (Oh et al. 2015). However, the straw effect did not occur. Rather, local populations increased since the opening of the KTX service. For the first time in the past forty years, almost more than 8,000 persons moved out of the Seoul Capital Area in 2011.

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2.1.7 Taiwan

Taiwan HSR (THSR) was operated in 2007 along the West coast of Taiwan from Taipei to the Southern city of Kaohsiung, which constructed and operated under a build operate transfer (BOT) model. Funding of the THSR came from two main sources that consist of (1) shareholder equity accounting for 20% and (2) banking group. The government permitted these local banks to buy back the system in case of the financial values failure. One of the key success factors for the BOT project depended on the sanctification of its ridership. Due to an increasing value of time on the congestion on existing intercity highways and the constraint of the conventional railway and domestic air transportation along the western corridor, the Taiwan government considered one of the possible alternatives to reduce the congestion. The HSR was evaluated as the best solution for serving demands and also meet the transportation policy objectives of improving public transportation and minimizing negative environmental impacts (Yung 2010; Cheng 2011).

2.1.8 Summarize the HSR

HSR had characteristics that made it efficient and effective. Development of HSR projects implied to solve the capacity restrictions and to mitigate the impact of traffic congestion on the corridors inclusive made it an essential part of sustainable mobility systems. The linking up with other corridors should promote only the regional development however it seemed to unsustainable development of HSR and failure in the economic value of the project in some countries.

2.2 TOD

2.2.1 Definition of TOD

TOD is a tool to promote and support smart growth in order to sustainable development because it has been integrated into a viable model between transportation and land use in several developed countries and rapidly developing cities of the world. A common definition or criterion remains to be established for TOD. For instance, (Cervero and Kockelman 1997) stress the contributions of the 3Ds to the TOD concept; they explained the 3D concept as density in the form of residence and jobs, diversity in the form of mixed land use development as well as design in the form of good street connectivity for pedestrians (Galeloa et al. 2014). Other scholars interpreted TOD by borrowing words from its original explanation and providing new empirical additions. The various definitions for TOD generally state that TOD should promote compact and highly mixed-use development around transit hubs and should include accessible and walkable neighborhoods (Cervero 1995; Knowles 2012). Furthermore, transportation infrastructure is one of the most important components of urban development. The efficient development and implementation of a transportation infrastructure plan are necessary to solve the traffic congestion and other environmental consequences. However, the perspective of sustainable development, the imbalance between transportation and land use are the most critical factor that affects the efficiency of transportation infrastructure. TOD strategy has been proposed as an efficient approach to solving this unbalance (Cervero et al. 2004; John et al. 2004).

2.2.2 TOD on HSR station

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Meanwhile, in terms of HSR impacts are related to the opportunity for regional and urban development. Although economic situations, there have been significant impacts of the HSR in their countries. A new HSR line or an extension of an existing HSR line has clearly significant and widespread impacts even if the impacts take longer to be reflected. A successful growth, specifically whether a region experiences HSR positive impacts, is dependent on the efforts and the willingness of the region rather than the introduction of HSR itself. Therefore, the TOD area design planning system is an important public transportation policy to drive economic growth.

Table 1. The previous studies of TOD on HSR stations Location Methodology Result Alicante - A scoring system distributing 100 points - Walk: to develop neighborhoods that (Spain) between 21 indicators and location within promotes walking. 1 km maximum walking distance to a - Cycling: to give priority to high capacity transit station or within 500 non-motorized transportation networks. m distance to a direct service to a high - Connect: to create street and route capacity transit line (ITDP (2014)). network. - Transit: to foster development around high-quality transportation. - Mix: to design a plan for mixing use. - Density: to optimize transportation capacity and density. - Compact: to create areas with short distance access (Rodriguez et al. (2017)). Kerala - Identify the factors that affect the location - Locating the node within the city: the best (Indonesia) of the transit station. suitable location of the HSR node was - Analysis of the transportation scenario as identified after a screening process by well as discussion with stakeholders at which the proximity to user factor was different levels. used to decide upon the best possible - To execute the multi-criteria evaluation option. using the software, GIS: analysis to locate a - Assessing the functional requirements: the suitable location total number of tourists coming to the four - A sector-specific evaluation of the hubs in this study zone, 31.5% preferred functional requirements of the HSR node, a staying in the node when the HSR system model of assessing spatial and qualitative is implemented. Including the primary demands of a node based on regional and survey for facility, demand assessment local needs was evolved in the process was done for all the possible facilities required for the tourists who visit this area using information from tour operators and various other secondary sources. - Accessibility to the node: the accessibility framework for the work travel sector dealt with providing ample connectivity with the zones concentrated with potential HSR users. Regarding the tourism travel sector, a framework structure dealt with the kind of connectivity the various tourist hubs and minor tourist spots in the region should be with the HSR node (Kenny (2013)). Japan - Decision making process for urban - Key factors are identified as shown development, there are four steps consist of below: (1) to decide the strategy for future urban ▪ Factors that influence the decision structures. (2) to choose a target zone to be making process: regional potential, developed. (3) to select an institution for local governments, economic and development and (4) to implement the financial feasibility, regulation, land development projects. use, changing zoning, stakeholders

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Location Methodology Result and timing of development. ▪ Factors of successful cases: simultaneous land development and delay of land use and land use, land readjustment, development around the station, railway or subway connection and investment by private sector. ▪ Factor of unsuccessful case: limited land development plan, failure in united redevelopment of surroundings, delay of land development, limited land adjustment and sprawl (Oh et al. (2015)). Jinan (China) - Interviews TOD concept is used in developing new towns around HSR stations in China. But the development lacks coordination, causing problems at least in the short term (Mengxun (2015)). Lille - Site visit and interview Economic has improvement that related to (France) HSR and the associated development and the importance of public-sector leadership (Krause (2010)). South Korea - KTX stations emerging as core hubs for - Key factors are identified as shown regional development and station area below: development plans were prepared for all ▪ Factors that influence the decision stations. All stations are in the process of making process: cooperation between constructing an intermodal transportation related institutions such as central center complex which combines both an government, local government public intermodal transfer function and various corporations and local people and business and commercial functions. high willingness of local - Moreover, Korea has Legal and institutional governments. systems that have mainly boost railway ▪ Factors of successful cases: earlier network construction and to enhance public construction of feeder transportation interests. and making earlier land use plan of HSR station areas ▪ Factor of unsuccessful case: economic recession, financial difficulty, poor local cooperation, delay of feeder transportation, lack of execution body’s capability, law system inefficiency, conflicts between stakeholders and high land price (Oh et al. (2015)). Taiwan - Development plan such as developmental - Key factors are identified as shown theme, population ranges, areas range and below: commercial/manufacture/park. ▪ Factors that influence the decision - Legal and institutional systems. making process: zone expropriation. ▪ Factors of successful cases: proximity to city center, high population density, creation of employment and active real estate market. ▪ Factor of unsuccessful case: farness from city center; low population density (Oh et al. (2015)). Zaragoza - Site visit and interview - Zaragoza’s aggressive public-sector (Spain) involvement to envision the development for both the Milla Digital project and the reuse of buildings from the Expo 2008,

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Location Methodology Result indicates a high level of public sector leadership in the effort to maximize benefits from HSR. (Krause (2010)).

2.2.4 Summarize the TOD

TOD is gaining popularity as a tool to promote smart growth and sustainable development in many HSR stations in their countries. Meanwhile, the impacts of HSR will not depend on only HSR plans/strategies but also on government, local government and other stakeholders create the environment in which HSR will operate. The previous studies have various methodologies to apply for HSR stations and the results are almost positive benefits. Therefore, my originality focuses on how to sustainable development for the first HSR project in Thailand.

3. THE HSR MASTER PLAN FOR DEVELOPMENT IN THAILAND AND THE CURRENT SITUATION

Whereas the initial plan for HSR in Thailand was created by the Ministry of Transport (MOT) in 2009 under the Abishit cabinet. This strategic planning was to connect neighboring countries, which will contribute to economic revitalization, domestic and international and national development of Thailand. Afterward, Yingluck cabinet who came into power in 2011, concentrated on the HSR project as the highlight of its transportation infrastructure improvement project and it was approved by her government in 2013 inclusive on March 27, 2015 Prayut cabinet approved the principle of Thailand’s transportation infrastructure development strategy 2015-2022 and transportation infrastructure investment action plan 2017 that had included four pathways for HSR development project. The HSR networks development based on the following criteria:

3.1 Compliance with national policies/strategies and international cooperation

The pathways are aligned with national policies and strategies; one of them will be the route to support the development of Eastern Special Economic Zone and link the 3 major airports of the country (Don Muang-Suvarnabhumi-U-Tapao). Subsequently, the Northeastern line (Bangkok-Nong Khai route) in which is the path of the Thai-Chinese cooperation based on Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support the standard gauge railway network linkage to Laos and China. Consequently, the North line (Bangkok-Chiang Mai route) is a cooperation project between Thailand and Japan based on the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC). Last, Southern Bangkok-Padang Besar route, which has the potential to develop interconnections to Malaysia and Singapore in the future. It is consistent with low policies and strategies level.

3.2 Project Availability

When the projects have a feasible project in terms of economic return or economic and financial return and affirm the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), their projects will reasonably approve by the cabinet and construction of the projects in the next stage. Nowadays, there are two projects that approved by the cabinet and consist of (1) development

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of High Speed Rail for regional connectivity between Bangkok and Nong Khai (Phase 1: Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima) and the High Speed Rail Linked 3 Airport Project (Don Muang-Suvarnabhumi-U-Tapao). Those projects are in rush development and considering the projects are in line with the country’s high-level development policies and strategies. Meanwhile, Bangkok-Phitsanulok route, Japan side has contemplated how to create regional development planning along the corridor and the Thai side has also verified the feasibility project by MOT, Thailand inclusive it is expected to submit to the cabinet approves in 2019. As well as Bangkok-Hua Hin route is still a feasibility study by private investments in state undertakings Act, BE 2561 (2018).

Table 2. HSR project development (Fist stage) Economic Benefit Wider Economic Finance Benefit Order Route (%) Benefit (%) (%) 1 Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima 8.56 11.68 NA 2 Don Muang-Suvarnabhumi- 10.09 13.96 7.37 U-Tapao 3 Bangkok-Chiang Mai 7.2 14.7 2.35 4 Bangkok-Hua Hin NA NA NA Note: Benchmark for economic and financial return are 12% and 5%, respectively

4. THE BARRIERS OF THE THAI GOVERNMENT

4.1 OPERATION SERVICE ON BANG SUE AND BAN PHACHI SECTION

As the original plan of Thailand, Bang Sue station has three layers’ structure that compose of the 1st floor is concourse, the 2nd floor provides for meter gauge (long distance lines and red lines) and the 3rd floor arranges for HSR lines and airport link. Moreover, there are six tracks allot to the North HSR Line and Northeastern HSR line to operating a shared track on the third floor.

Figure 1. Cross - section of Bang Sue station (modified design)

Meanwhile, July 17th, 2017 the cabinet of Thailand have already approved 179,413 billion baht for the development of High Speed Rail for regional connectivity between Bangkok and Nong Khai (Phase 1: Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima) and signaling & telecommunication has used Chinese Train Control System via GSMR network (frequency band 900 Hz) inclusive China side would like to operate it on dedicated track. As well as

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development of HSR North line (Bangkok to Chiang Mai, phase 1: Bangkok-Phitsanulok) is currently considered by MOT, Thailand and this project has used Shinkansen system that based on the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) dated May 27th, 2015 including on August 6th, 2016 and a new MOC agrees with H.E. Arkhom, MOT of the Kingdom of Thailand and Mr. Ishii, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan that dedicated track is essential for Shinkansen technology. Therefore, the original plan of HSR operation is really different from the current situation due to political issues. Moreover, we review the HSR operations in the previous experience (Japan, Spain, France, China, Taiwan and South Korea) that most countries use the dedicated tracks to avoid with conflict with safety and reliability except for German and Italy have mixed operation between HSR and conventional trains together in some parts (Pouryousef et al. (2010)).

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Figure 2. HSR Network Plans in Thailand Note: the blue line, red line, green line and yellow line are Bangkok-Phitsanulok, Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima, Don Muang-Suvarnabhumi-U-Tapao and Bangkok-Hua Hin respectively in their HSR development project.

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4.2 TOD

Thailand’s government had evaluated the feasibility study and it demonstrated that this project had negative outcomes along 30 years. It was currently in progress and expected to operate in 2022. On the other hand, if The Thai government did not start to the development of the HSR project, it would lose several opportunities to the regions because the project is a part of the development of the Trans-Asian railway network. From a planner perspective, the TOD strategy is one of the tools to promote and support sustainable development in catchment areas. Many previous studies demonstrate that TOD has a significant role in regional development (Krause, 2010; Kenny, 2013, Arefehi et al. 2014, Oh et al. 2015, Bautista et al., 2018). However, TOD had a variety of factors and elements to make its effect and cause to their land uses. Meanwhile, Thailand’s government has misunderstood the general TOD concept, has never had an experience on how to utilize TOD around the transportation hubs and TOD in Thailand has a problem to policy-linkage in each level (national, regional prefecture and local level) including Thailand has the limitation in current regal system that relates to expropriation and utilization of land use. As the new Thailand’s constitution, it requires the expropriation of property to be done by using the mandatory provision. However, when we consider the constitution of mandatory provision determine the cores and conditions for the enactment of the property expropriation law must be composed of (1) identification of the purpose of the expropriation, (2) clearly specify the duration of the property to use, (3) when expropriated for any purpose, it must be used to the purpose, (4) if the property does not expropriate within the timeframe, it will return to the original owner or heir at law and (5) the expropriation of the immovable property should do only necessary to be used for the purposes. In this regard, the expropriation of the immovable property can be done only the implementation of the constitution or expropriation and acquisition with immovable property Act, BE 2562 (2019) as well as the scope of use is to public benefits. Hence, if the Thai government has a policy to immovable property expropriation for development in TOD, we suggest that the objective of the immovable property expropriation will include in the development of immovable property in the station area of public transportation systems. However, this specific law is not extended to develop real estate around the station of public transportation systems. Next, the important reason to consider is land use for public benefits in expropriation and acquisition with immovable property act, BE 2562 (2019). If land development is developed by using the national model scheme, it will able to solve the economy, social and environment issues. Thus, it can promote TOD as a tool to drive them around the station area of the public transportation system. The third point is a mechanism according to the town planning act, BE 2518 (1975) to determine the land use. It is classified the business into a plan for transportation planning, public utilities and environmental conservation to advance to a guideline for the development of the area around the station of the public transportation system in the TOD viewpoint. It can operate since it is an activity control or the utility of land and is not necessary to use specific town planning which must be enacted. Therefore, based on the limitation of TOD in Thailand, we propose an approach for achieving their issues as follows: First, the Thai government should be explicitly specified the railway transportation investment projects that will be the main public transportation system or alternative of the public transportation system for users. Second, Thailand’s government could have the national model scheme for TOD around the station area of the public transportation systems and relate to the spatial plan at each level. As well as it indicates

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obviously the direction of how to develop and show outcome after development all of them including opportunity cost if we did not develop. Third, a financial tool for supporting the development of the TOD project (tax measure and soft loans) like Japan and USA to support operator whom operate the public transportation system and assist financial aid. Fourth, encourage the local government to participate and develop the TOD in each province and Fifth, propose a proposal TOD around station area of public transportation system for a new law or change to an existing law that related to expropriation.

Table 3. Outline of Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, BE 2560 (2017) Content The basic principles and laws of a nation that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee certain rights to the people Objective Section 37: People have property rights and inheritance ▪ The immovable property expropriation will not be done, except by the virtue of the provisions of the law enacted for public utility, national defense or natural resources or other public benefits. As well as, they need to pay the fair compensation within a reasonable time for the owner by taking into account the public interest impact on expropriation including the benefits that the expropriation may receive from the expropriation. ▪ The expropriation of the immovable property shall be done only as necessary to be used for the purposes provided in paragraph three. Exception for expropriation to bring the expropriated property to compensation and unfairness to the owners. ▪ The property expropriation law must specify the purpose of expropriation and clearly specifying the duration of access to the property. If it is not used that purpose within the specified duration or there are surplus properties after utilization, the original owner or heir at law wishes to return to the previous owner or heir at law.

Table 4. Outline of Expropriation and Acquisition with Immovable Property Act, BE 2562 (2019) Content Land preparation land for infrastructure project investments Objective ▪ Section 7: when the government has to acquire the necessary land in the public utility, national defense, natural source or other public benefits or compensation for the unfairness of landowners who are expropriated under this act when they do not agree to transfer otherwise. ▪ Public benefits under Section 1 (Article 7) include the city plan, promoting and maintaining environmental quality, agriculture development, land reform, land readjustment, conservation of the historic and historical site, industry and the development of special economic zones Definition ▪ “Expropriation” means the acquisition of land or other immovable property which does not belong to the government under the condition specified in this Act. However, it excludes the acquisition by the trading method under Section 33 (2), 38 and paragraph 4 (the acquisition of immovable property by trading method). ▪ “Immovable Property” means land, building, perennial or other properties that are attached to land for permanent or constitutes the same land.

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Table 5. Outline of Town Planning Act, BE 2518 (1975) Content Preparation and implementation of the comprehensive plans and specific plans Objective ▪ To control the development of infrastructure investment and land use ▪ To the implementation of urban renewal and development projects Definition “Town planning” means the preparation and implementation of a comprehensive plan and a specific plan to develop a new town or redevelop a damaged town.

4.3 THE NEW ORGANIZATION AND PERSONNEL

In 2017, SRT had 29,899.17 million baht of the net loss and also had the problems related to personnel availability because it had limited personnel management that was the result of the cabinet resolution on July 28th, 1998, SRT could accept only the new employees 5 percent of retirement. As well as it had evaluated the performance under the standard until it is one of the state own enterprises for rehabilitation by the State Enterprise Policy Office. Moreover, the cabinet resolution of the project had raised this issue in order to prevent/regulate the operational project to effective performance and the new organization might have the agility and suitability for HSR operation 2. Including the project could determine the measure or guidelines for supporting both budget and personnel so that project could continue to operate, train and reduce the risk in the future within 2018. Currently, the Thai government just had the conceptual framework for settlement the special organization, also could pay attention to do them carefully and kept time in order to other processes would not receive the effect in the future. Furthermore, it might be the demo special organization to drive another HSR projects in Thailand as well.

4.4 FARE STRUCTURE

As the feasibility study, a fare structure was 80+1.8 baht/km, which would be the highest revenue when compared with other fare rates. While the authors compare with other public transportations between Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima route (252 km) described that the fare structure of the project was 535 baht/trip and could compete with private transportation and public transport (train’s first class and second class). However, it was not able to compete with other public transportation modes such as buses and vans, even though an advantage in value of time.

Table 6. Comparative fare structure among mode of transportation systems (Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima) Transportation mode Fare rate (Baht/trip) Remark Private car 1,306-640 Including depreciation and fuel cost Van 200 Observation result Bus (first class) 220 Department of Land Transport Bus (second class) 171 Train (first class) 806-1,010 Car seat and air-conditioned sleeper Train (second class) 393-633 Train (Third class) 323-423 Air-conditioned chair car 163-263 Fan chair car 99-199 Fan chair car (Fast/Express)

2 The lesson learned in Thailand, Airport Rail Link (ARL) (Bangkok) was under controlled by SRT and the process approved by board of the state railway of Thailand. Therefore, it was the cause of purchasing the trains/cars and spare parts are not flexible.

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When we considered the fare structure of the project and GDP per capita of the other countries, it explained that the fare structure (when the distance adjusted approximately to 500 km) had approximately the proportion 0.44 percent of GDP per capita. It closed to South Korea and Taiwan's HSR fare structure because their HSR systems could challenge the other forms of public transportation.

Table 7. Comparative HSR fare in various countries Program Japan China South Korea Taiwan Thailand First HSR route Tokyo-Osaka Beijing-Tianjin, Seoul-Busan, Taipei-Zuoying Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasrima Fare for the first 3,000 55 44,800 1,490 536 opening year Yen Yuan Won Taiwan dollar Baht service Fare for 500 km 1% 0.64% (2011) 0.32% 0.38% 0.44% per GDP per (1964) (2004) (2007) (2017) capital (first year of service)

Meanwhile, China and Japan had determined the fare rate per GDP per capita that was higher than 0.64-1 of GDP per capita because Japan did not have the financial support policy for the service provider (JR’s) besides infrastructure investment. However, the cheap fare structure per GDP per capita might cause the service provider to making financial risk, especially in case of low passenger liked the lesson learned from Taiwan. Hence, the Taiwan government had to participate in financial support for private concessionaires so that the service provider could continue to services. On the other hand, when we considered the journey between HSR and aircraft, aircraft had the advantage among the mode of transportations during 150-800 km/trip (Gleave (2004)).

4.5 The mechanism of the barriers of the Thai government

From the previous subsection, there are four barriers that impact the HSR project investment and consist of the level of service (operation service), TOD, the performance of organization and staff (the new organization and personnel) and fare structure. Subsequently, the authors attempt to make the mechanism among the relationship of the factors based on how to drive the HSR project for sustainable development in Thailand. As a result, it explains that TOD is the most influential factor in the mechanism because it has the highest joints and it generates a financial return (demand and financial freedom), economic return (GPP and activities) and social return (quality of life and welfare) to the project. In addition, the components of successful TOD depend on the city planning, location, regulations, timing and local government as Korea, Japan and Taiwan experience (Oh et al. (2015)). Meanwhile, the performance of organization and staffs is the second influential factors because it concentrates mainly on financial value (outcome) and technical in order to convince and courage the number of passengers who travel by HSR. It also relates to TOD in term of how to develop income. Moreover, the third and the fourth-ranking influential factors are fare structure and operation service, respectively. Fare structure relates to the decision making of the mode of transportation and direct economic benefit. Operation service has a low impact on the diagram

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in view of it involves only the safety and financial return (operation and maintenance cost and demand). However, there are some external factors that do not appear in the mechanism such as political issue, timing, social economic characteristics and technology since we cannot change or to modify the individual characteristics of the users.

Figure 3. The mechanism of the barriers of the Thai government for the HSR project

4.6 Summarize the barriers of the Thai government

In order to achieve the HSR project for sustainable development, we suggest applying TOD around the catchment area of the HSR stations. TOD also evidences that can produce the wealth of benefits, especially with regard to demand increase and improve economic conditions surrounding the public transport hub. Subsequently, the new organization and personnel will focus on customer service and revenue/profit from the business operations. In terms of fare, the rate can challenge only with private transport and the intercity train’s first class and second class. Finally, operation service will approach on how to protect accidents and service the passengers.

5. CONCLUSIONS

Thailand is the latest country to the development of the HSR project, like an important tool for economic development in their regions. As a result of the feasibility study, it is not feasible, is going on to construction and expects to operate in 2022. Meanwhile, there are several barriers that the Thai government could consider in order to drive the HSR project to sustainable development. In this paper, the authors attempt to analyze and make the mechanism of the barriers of the Thai government for the first HSR project that consist of (1) operation service on section between Bang Sue and Ban Phachi (2) TOD (3) the new organization and personnel and (4)

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fare structure as well as consider accomplishing the four hypotheses to achieve the objectives as below: Hypothesis 1 (two HSR systems can operate between Ban Sue and Ban Phachi section): it causes of a political issue and there has never had the experience to combine the difference HSR systems (signaling and telecommunication) by shared track. However, if the Thai government would like to mixed operation with two systems, the Thai government could carefully consider the safety and reliability. Hypothesis 2 (TOD is effective to sustainable development of HSR stations in Thailand): TOD is a potential tool and useful to making the sustainable development as it interacts between public transports and land use development by increasing the activities and accessibility. However, the development of land use is a variety of factors and Thailand has a limitation for TOD. We propose an approach for achieving their issues as follows: First, the Thai government should be explicitly specified the railway transportation investment projects that will be the main public transportation system or alternative of the public transportation system for users. Second, Thailand’s government must have to the national model scheme in TOD around the station area of the public transportation systems and relate to the spatial plan at each level. As well as it indicates obviously the direction of how to develop and show outcome after development all of them including opportunity cost if we did not develop. Third, a financial tool for supporting the development of the TOD project (tax measure and soft loans) like Japan and USA to support operator whom operate the public transportation system and assist financial aid. Fourth, encourage the local government to participate and develop the TOD in each province and Fifth, propose a proposal TOD around station area of public transportation system for a new law or change to an existing law that related to expropriation. Hypothesis 3 (what characteristic of new organization and panel to drive the HSR project): the research is limited the availability of information by surfing the internet (google scholar). Hypothesis 4 (fare structure for HSR is competitive in other public transport systems): the pricing can challenge only private transport and train’s first class and second class. However, it does not compete naturally with another mode of public transports. In addition, we also investigate the factors that have an influence on the first HSR project in Thailand. The result shows that the TOD factor is the most impact to drive the HSR project sustainable development. Because it integrates land use development and public transportation systems inclusive it produces the wealth of benefits, especially with regard to demand increase and improve economic return surrounding public transportation hub. Meanwhile, other factors, performance of organization and staff, fare structure and operation service have significant importance to approach and achieve as well. The further research issues should be studied with the factors that influence the Nakhon Ratchasima HSR station, consider the characteristics of TOD typologies for the HSR station and discusses how to connect the building integration.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to NESDC, OTP and SRT for providing the basic information of HSR project and the master plan for the development of HSR in Thailand.

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