Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Policy Committee, headed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, today acknowledged the State Railway of Thailand’s decision to award the contract to build the 220 billion baht high-speed train system, linking the country’s three main international airports, to a consortium led Charoen Pokphand Group (CP).

Secretary-general of the EEC Policy Committee, Mr. Kanit Saengsuphan, said the mega project will now be submitted to the cabinet on May 28th for approval.

SRT acting governor Woravuth Mala said that contract signing procedure between the SRT and the CP-led consortium will depend on the approval of an environment impact assessment (EIA) study and the hand-over of land for the construction of the project.

The high-speed train project will link Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi international airports in Bangkok with U-Tapau in the eastern province of Rayong and will reduce the journey time from Bangkok to the EEC by about one hour.

The project is expected to begin this year and will take five years to complete.

The consortium comprises CP Holding, a subsidiary of CP Group, China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd, Italian-Thai Development, CH Karnchang, Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp for Transport and Urban Development, Bangkok Expressway and Metro Plc, China Resources (Holdings) Company, Siemens, Hyundai, Ferrovie dello Stato, CITIC Group Corp, CRRC-Sifang and Japan Bank for International Cooperation.