The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) aims to increase freight services from Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri to Bangkok to help reduce transport costs for import and export businesses.

SRT governor Veeris Ammarapala on Wednesday led a team to inspect the deep sea port and the Inland Container Deport (ICD) in Bangkok’s Lat Krabang district.

He said the visit was to expedite the resolution of problems and increase the potential of rail freight services on the Eastern route to fully support the needs of the business sector as the Eastern route is an important logistics avenue in this country.

Currently, 24 rail freight trains ply the route between Laem Chabang and Lat Krabang ICD each day. Freight volume in fiscal year 2024 was 465,329 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) or 8,622 trains.

Mr Veeris said the SRT wanted to support the increasing demands of the industrial sector and international trade so the inspection of both sites gives the governor a full perspective.

The team found Lat Krabang ICD still experiences freight train delays due to problems with loading, unloading and rotating carriages. The SRT will join hands with other parties to find solutions, he said.

“We also aim to increase the number of rail freight trains from 24 per day to 30 in the near future,” he said.

The Lat Krabang facility is located on a 645 rai plot, can handle 600,000 TEUs per year, and still has room to grow.

“Rail freight transport tends to expand continuously because it is an efficient, low-cost, energy-saving, safe logistics system because it can transport more cargo at a time than road freight,” he said. Improving facilities at Laem Chanbang Port and Lat Krabang ICD is in line with the government’s policy to drive the economy sustainably, Mr Veeris added.

credit: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2959856/srt-to-boost-laem-chabang-bangkok-freight-services.