Juergen Supik, CEO of Dorsch Asia and Treasurer of GTRA, was invited in November 2024 to the panel discussion "Overcoming Challenges in Implementing Local Railway Solutions" at the Rail Research & Technology Conference 2024 (RRTC) at Grand Richmond Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand.
The panel list comprised of moderator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Petch Jearanaisilawong, KMUTNB; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nattapong Makaratat, KMUTNB, Waranchalee Suwanpimolkul , S.K. Polymer Co., Ltd. and Mr. Paul Evans, Managing Director, InfraAsia – a high profile group to discuss this topic.
“Fulfilling passengers and freight companies needs must be the basis for future design and standardisation of the railway network”, said Supik to emphasis on the most important finding of the discussion. “If speed, reliability, comfort and costs are important for customers the railway network, rolling stock and systems must be designed accordingly. This means standardisation to reach reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) is an absolute must!"
Furthermore it was intensively discussed that it does not help to reduce the ticket prices further as the first and the last mile transportation costs are often a multiple of the long distance ticket price. “If a Tuktuk or motorbike taxi costs only 40 baht the first and last mile, it adds up to 160 baht, whereas a 50km distance return ticket costs only 40 Baht.” Therefore, to motivate more people to switch to rail, the first and last mile transport need to be improved in price and options such as adequate feeder systems and incentives,” Supik goes on.
The RRTC is a yearly conference hosting Government Organizations such as State Railway of Thailand, Rail Technology Research and Development Agency, Department of Rail Transport, Thai Universities as well as the private sector to exchange current state of the art rail technology solutions suitable for Thailand.
