Under the present situation of the long-distance transport by Northern Line, the railway has a small share of 13% between the modes related to the transport between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. According to the survey on incoming tourists by the governmental Chiang-Mai Sightseeing Office, the ratio of the number of tourists using railway to those using roads is approx. 1/2.
Therefore, it is expected first of all to provide the measures roughly described in the next section for the daytime limited express.
(2) Measures expected for time reduction
Effectively use the high-speed technology of the narrow-gauge railway available for practical use. Then, study a measure that the daytime limited express can provide the service of an order of 7-hrs with completely stable operation.
Mainly assume the introduction of body tilting diesel cars by which a great speedup on Northern Line having many curved sections can be expected and moreover, the traveling performance in straight line is improved. Then, study various relevant measures to clarify the possibility.
(a) Speedup in curve traveling
1/ Curve traveling performed much on Northern Line
Sharp curves continue in the mountainous section close to Chiang Mai consisting a large factor of decreasing the traveling speed. Moreover, there are many curves with a radius of 1,000 m generally in other flat land sections. Though these latter curves do not limit the speed at present, they will interrupt more speedup.
