"Suriya" insists that "Thaksin's" idea is not to seize the electric train concession back from the private sector, but to set up a fund to buy back the concession, use the electric train network to set a 20 baht fare policy, encourage people to use the rail system, and reduce the cost of living for the people. Mr. Suriya Juangroongruangkit, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, spoke about the issue of news reports stating that the idea of ??Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, former Prime Minister, who gave a speech on the topic of Vision for Thailand on August 22, was to buy back the electric train concession business, and then someone went and said that it was taking back the electric train concession from the private sector. He confirmed that this issue is not true. According to the former Prime Minister Thaksin's approach, which was discussed with the Ministry of Finance, is to set up a fund to raise money to buy electric trains that the private sector is still managing the concession contracts for, in order to bring the project back to manage the trains so that the government can drive the policy of setting fares that encourage people to use the clean energy electric train public transportation system, helping to reduce travel expenses, which is the idea of ??the former Prime Minister who really aims to benefit the people. As for how long the study will take to buy back the electric train system, how much money will be used from the fund, and when will it be clear? Mr. Suriya said that we need to study the information in detail again together with the Ministry of Finance. As for the issue of the concession of the Green Line or the BTS Skytrain, which will expire in 2029, the government will not interfere in the concessions that still have time left. Let the concession expire on its own. 'I would like to emphasize that we do not want to send the wrong signal that the concession has been seized from the private sector because it will affect confidence and in the future, no private sector will dare to inves t in infrastructure projects,' said Mr. Suriya. As for the model when buying back the electric train concession from the private sector, such as the Yellow Line, Pink Line, and Orange Line that will open in the future, the approach can be used to hire the private sector that previously received the concession to operate the trains in order to create continuity in providing services to the public who use the service without being affected. Source: Thai News Agency