Pa Sak Jolisid Dam via Kaeng Khoi and Khok Salung. Page (1) | (2) | (3)

Heading for Lopburi (cont. from Page 1)……..On arrival things become predictably unpredictable. I am told there is no rail service to the dam. Instead I am offered a tour bus heading to Kok Salung at the eastern end of the huge reservoir. On the plus side this has air conditioning and its complimentary. However it will make its way ‘around the Wrekin’ till it arrives in its own time.On this journey I begin to understand the cause of the suspended rail service. Signage and equipment offers pointers to an Italian/Thai project to upgrade the railway line. This clearly isn’t going to be a minor maintenance issue. I arrive opposite Khok Salung station where I take lunch. It’s here that a meet a local man whose family was affected by the Pasak Jolasit Dam project. As well as gaining useful local information I am offered a tour of the area with transport that clearly wasn’t designed for this use. The motorbike/side car is more at home employed in street vending; Thai spicy sausage I believe. Anyway I first need to visit the station.
Italian/Thai project……..Now things become much clearer. The station is closed until 15th March when a train service will resume from Keang Khoi Junction but will terminate here. The line is clearly undergoing a major upgrade with new base material and relaying of the track; and this is a lot more than a local issue. I learn that the whole section of line from Keang Khoi to Bua Yai in northern Nakhon Ratchasima province, some 300 kilometres away, is being upgraded in stages: A project lasting 2 years at a cost of some 8,000 million baht. The first section to Suranarai, the next station will be complete and functional by 20th April this year. During the project each section will be closed in turn with complimentary transport to and from train stations. The planned completion date for the whole project is 20th April 2013.