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17 Passenger Trains from Japan Get a New Lease on Life in Thailand

Thailand’s State Railway has announced seventeen second-hand passenger trains from Japan have been refurbished and will be put into service for tourism routes next month.

The 17 diesel carriages, donated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), arrived at Chon Buri’s Laem Chabang port on December 13, last year. The shipment cost SRT 42.5 million baht.

On September 6, SRT governor Nirut Maneephan took the media on a training test run consisting of three newly refurbished carriages.

The air-conditioned train left Bangkok’s Makkasan rolling stock maintenance and repair center and arrived at a railway station in the eastern province of Chachoengsao an hour later before returning to Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong station.

The carriages, which were originally designed for Japan’s 1.067-metre gauge rail tracks, have been modified to work with Thailand’s one-metre gauge tracks, and their interiors and exteriors have been refurbished. The carriages’ bodies have also been repainted in their original white and lavender colours.

Mr. Nirut stated that the three renovated carriages will be available for day trips beginning next month and that the SRT will solicit public input on preferred tourism routes.

“I will ask the public to vote on tourism routes such as Bangkok to Pasak Jolasid Dam in Lop Buri, Bangkok to Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Bangkok to Nam Tok (Waterfall) station in Kanchanaburi,” Mr. Nirut said.

passenger trains thailand

The interior of the passenger trains preserved

Regarding refurbishment, the SRT has done its best to keep as many of the original characteristics as possible, he said, except for the wheels, which must be converted to fit Thailand’s one-metre-gauge tracks.

“While the Japanese signs in the train’s interior have been preserved to maintain the train’s original feel, English translations have also been added.”

“Inside, there are Japanese-language posters introducing tourist attractions in Thailand,” Mr. Nirut explained.

According to him, train seats are arranged in pairs on each side of the aisle and can be manually rotated to allow passengers to sit face-to-face.

“At first, some questioned the value of the used carriages. “However, as it turns out, they are in good working order and function properly,” Mr. Nirut said.

“The refurbishment was done by technicians and cost about 200,000 baht per carriage, whereas new carriages cost between 80 and 100 million baht,” he explained.

“Even though the SRT had to pay 42.5 million baht for the shipment, the end result of the renovation was well worth all of the costs and efforts,” he said.

Passenger Train Carriages from Japan Get a New Life in Thailand

Free Passenger trains to last another 15 years

He stated that all 17 passenger train carriages had been used for approximately 35 years and could be used for at least another 15 years after refurbishment.

Adisorn Singhakarn, a senior engineer at the SRT’s maintenance and repair center, said the carriage donation highlighted the SRT’s long-standing friendship with Japanese railway operators.

“Previously, JR West gave Thailand the diesel and air-conditioned carriages.”

“In 1997, they donated 26 carriages.” Another batch of 28 was distributed in 1999, followed by another 40 in 2004 and 32 in 2010.

“All of them were converted into VIP carriages to cater to tourists,” Mr. Adisorn explained.

“However, the most recent batch of carriages have the most distinct characteristics expected of a Japanese train,” he said.

passenger trains thailand

SRT Responds to Criticism

Deputy government spokeswoman Tipanan Sirichana said the government welcomed the carriages’ renovation, which was less expensive than purchasing new ones.

She added that the refurbished train would help promote tourism and revitalize the economy.

“Some criticized the government, dismissing the carriages as scrap metal. However, we believe the government’s decision was correct. Ms. Tipanan praised the high calibre of the technicians involved in the refurbishment.

The SRT’s decision to pay 42.5 million baht for the shipment of the donated carriages sparked debate on social media about their worth.

Some Facebook users questioned why Thailand had to pay such a high price for the used carriages. Many opponents of the plan referred to the carriages as “scrap metal.”

Fans and public members flocked to the stations and along the trail route to photograph the train.

According to the SRT, the remaining 14 carriages are expected to be refurbished by the end of next year.

The Kiha 183 series carriages were manufactured between 1981 and 1982 and decommissioned in 2017.

Before being donated to Thailand, the Kiha 183 series served as limited express trains in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost prefecture and coldest region. The carriages were specifically designed to withstand the harsh, snowy winters there.

The Kiha 183 series features a “slant nose” designed to keep snow out of the front of the train while it is moving and an elevated driver’s cab for better visibility during snowfall. The maximum speed of the Kiha 183 series is 110 kilometres per hour.

Eight of the 17 carriages have a seating capacity of 40 passengers each, while the remaining eight have a seating capacity of 68 passengers each. The final one has a seating capacity of 52 people.

Source: Bangkok Post

Keywords: first passenger trains, passenger trains in America, union pacific passenger trains

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

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Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

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Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli, To repay $6.4 Million

shkreli

Washington — The Supreme Court rejected Martin Shkreli’s appeal on Monday, after he was branded “Pharma Bro” for raising the price of a lifesaving prescription.

Martin appealed a decision to repay $64.6 million in profits he and his former company earned after monopolizing the pharmaceutical market and dramatically raising its price. His lawyers claimed the money went to his company rather than him personally.

The justices did not explain their reasoning, as is customary, and there were no notable dissents.

Prosecutors, conversely, claimed that the firm had promised to pay $40 million in a settlement and that because Martin orchestrated the plan, he should be held accountable for returning profits.

shkreli

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Martin was also forced to forfeit the Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” which has been dubbed the world’s rarest musical album. The multiplatinum hip-hop group auctioned off a single copy of the record in 2015, stipulating that it not be used commercially.

Shkreli was convicted of lying to investors and defrauding them of millions of dollars in two unsuccessful hedge funds he managed. Shkreli was the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals (later Vyera), which hiked the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill after acquiring exclusive rights to the decades-old medicine in 2015. It cures a rare parasite condition that affects pregnant women, cancer patients, and HIV patients.

shkreli

He defended the choice as an example of capitalism in action, claiming that insurance and other programs ensured that those in need of Daraprim would eventually receive it. However, the move prompted criticism, from the medical community to Congress.

shkreli

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Attorney Thomas Huff said the Supreme Court’s Monday ruling was upsetting, but the high court could still overturn a lower court judgment that allowed the $64 million penalty order even though Shkreli had not personally received the money.

“If and when the Supreme Court does so, Mr. Shkreli will have a strong argument for modifying the order accordingly,” he told reporters.

Shkreli was freed from prison in 2022 after serving most of his seven-year sentence.

SOURCE | AP

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