Transportation Development in Thailand, 1897-1932; Mapping of Time-distance from Bangkok

Abstract

Transportation development is one of the crucial elements in the political and economic integration of a territory. During the Chakri Reformation which began in the late 19th century, Thailand sought to hold firmly on her sover-eignty all over her territory in order to create a nation-state centered in Bangkok and to keep her independence. For this purpose, she began to develop her transportation network by introducing new means of transportation, that is, railways and motor-cars, to ensure the reduction of travel time and transport cost between Bangkok and the peripheries. This paper highlights the development of railways and motor-roads in the era of their introduction by employing the concept of travel time-distance between Bangkok and the peripheries.To illustrate time-distance from Bangkok in a map, I gathered a number of records of travels written by Kings, officials, and foreigners and calculated average travel speed of every means of transportation taken during in that period. After computing the average speed, I estimated time-distance between Bangkok and important peripheral cities all over the Thailand and plotted their positions in concentric circles centering in Bangkok.Prior to the introduction of railways, ferry boats and steamers were the chief means of transportation in Thailand. With the invention of steamers, navigation time was remarkably reduced. This was especially true for marine navigation. In contrast to navigation, inland transportation hardly developed except in areas where steamers were available as river transportation. Under these circumstances, maritime cities along the gulf of Siam in the southern and eastern regions were situated “close” to Bangkok, while inland cities in the northern and northeastern regions remained relatively “isolated” from Bangkok.To bring these isolated areas close to Bangkok, the Thai Government constructed the first national railway from Bangkok to Khorat, the urban center in the northeastern region which the people could access only by the means of land transportation. After the construction of the Khorat line, railway networks were extended to the north and south, respectively. Needless to say, these railways played very important roles of connecting Bangkok and the peripheral cities and dramatically reduced the time-distance between them. Apart from railways, many motor-roads were also constructed as feeder lines to the railways.By combining roads with railways, tree-shaped modern transportation networks centered on Bangkok were completed by the 1930s. The time-distance maps from the late 19th to the early 20th century show Thailand's efforts at transportation development which guaranteed and facilitated rapid communication, and movement of people, goods and information within the territory and established a physical base of Bangkok as the core of Thai territory. These transportation networks facilitated the political and economic centralization in Bangkok which was to become the peculiar feature of contemporary Thailand.