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Is it worth building the Phuket Light Rail?
A look at the proposed Phuket light rail system - why it's not going to the beaches, and what if there was a Bangkok to Phuket railway service.
Here at Living In Asia I’ve been working through the proposed regional transit systems of Thailand. So far I’ve covered Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen, and after covering Phuket this week the next one is Nakhon Ratchasima.
This week’s article is a fact sheet of the project, and below is my editorial on the proposed light rail of Phuket.
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The Phuket Light Rail project has been on the drawing board for years. Looking at the news archive on the fact sheet you can see that announcements of its imminent construction is almost an annual event.
This is a difficult project, so it’s no wonder that it remains stuck in the “too hard” basket. I’m a railway advocate, but I’m not sure how useful this line will be. Sure, I’d rather spend money on a useless railway than two useless submarines, but if you are going to splash around that kind of money you should be looking to get the most bang for your baht by building a railway where it’s most needed.
For Phuketans it will be most useful if they live and work/go to school on the same line.
For tourists it will be of little use unless you are staying in the old town. Most people come to Phuket for the beaches, so arriving by air would mean getting the light rail to a transfer station for another onward journey by taxi or public bus/songthaew.
I personally loathe the transport mafia in Phuket and the prices they charge, so I would gladly take the rail just to avoid their extortionist service. For normal people though, a rail/bus combo wouldn’t be worth the hassle.
There is no plan to build the light rail to the beaches because of the island’s geography. If you’re not familiar with Phuket, a quick look of the satellite view at Google Maps will reveal why it’s not possible to put a line that connects the west coast beach areas.
The most populated beach area (Patong) is surrounded by rugged mountains that would be impossible the pass a railway across without a tunnel, and each beach area is cut of from each other by such terrain.
There is a case though for building a railway to Phuket City. Instead of looking at it as an isolated light rail line on an island, it makes more sense if it’s looked at as part of the overall state railway network.
Proposals have been made over the years for a new Surat Thani - Phuket railway that would branch off the current southern railway line. A new railway from Surat Thani to Phang Nga would then connect to the Phase 2 extension of the light rail from Phuket Airport to Phang Nga.
Branch lines in Southern Thailand already exist, such as the Trang line. This is a spur line off the main southern line that travels to the Thai-Malaysian border. There are two trains a day from Bangkok to Trang, and once the lines have been double-tracked there would be scope to add new regional services.
Trang has a population of about 60,000 people, while Phuket City has a population of 80,000 people (and the island has about 415,000). There would be more demand for a Bangkok-Phuket railway service than a Bangkok-Trang service.
Maybe it would be better to build a heavy railway to Phuket City that is fully integrated into the State Railway network. With a future faster southern railway service from Bangkok to Surat Thani, that would make a future Bangkok-Phuket service as a viable alternative to flying.
The main problem of this alternative is that a heavy railway would be a more expensive option as it would require more land acquisition and more elevated sections. Parts of the current light rail proposal will travel like a tram through the streets of Phuket City.
Another alternative would be to build the heavy line from Surat Thani to the northern end of Phuket Island or to the airport. From here you would get off at this new Phuket Station to the island light rail. That means that the proposed Phase 2 light rail from the airport to Phang Nga would be heavy rail that is connected to the national network.
Of course they have to build Phase 1 first, so lets see if that actually happens as the latest estimates says by 2026.
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