The Ministry of Transport of Thailand announced on December 23 that the Ministry of Communications is expected to invest 54 billion baht (about 10.8 billion yuan) to purchase the trains, tools, and power systems required by the China-Thailand Railway. The money will go to domestic finance. Institutional loans, because the amount is not large, and domestic Thai baht loan interest rate is currently at a relatively low level, which is more favorable than the interest rates of Bank of China and World Bank, and will be negotiated again with related departments. It is expected that the results will be available in April 2018.

   It is reported that there will be 12 high-speed trains to be purchased, each with 8 compartments and a total of 800 seats, including economy class and business class. The foods sold on the car will use products from the “One Town One Product” project. China-Thailand Railway is a flagship project of pragmatic cooperation between the two countries, and is also an important interconnection project between the two countries under the framework of the “Belt and Road” initiative.

China-Thailand Railway is Thailand's first standard-track high-speed railway, using Chinese technology. The first-phase project connects Bangkok, the capital, and Nakhon Ratchasima, in the northeast, with a total length of 253 kilometers and a design speed of 250 kilometers per hour. There are 6 stations along the line. The second phase of the project will be extended to Nongkai, separated by the river from Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and it will be connected to the Sino-Lao Railway from Dingding to Vientiane.

The first phase of the Sino-Thai Railway Cooperation Project was officially started on December 21 in Pak Chong County, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. The second phase of the project is expected to start at the end of 2018. “Since the second section of the Sino-Thai Railway (Nakhon Ratchasima-Nong Khai) needs to submit the planning and drawings of each section to the Thai cabinet for approval, this section of more than 350 kilometers will be phased out. The project is expected to start at the end of next year,” Thai Minister of Transport Akon.