On 14 July 2025, Mr. Gardphajon Udomdhammabhakdi, Governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), with Mr. SAKUDO Shunsuke, Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Thailand Office, and Mrs. Arunee Hiam, Deputy Director-General, Acting for Director-General of the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), signed the Record of Discussions of the Third Country Training Program (TCTP) to organize the training course entitled “MRTA Experience Sharing on Urban Rail Development, Operation and Maintenance” at Meeting Room 1, 9th Floor, Building 1, MRTA.

Mr. Gardphajon Udomdhammabhakdi, MRTA Governor, said that MRTA is very pleased to be a part of the Third Country Training Program (TCTP), which is a collaboration between the Japanese government through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Thai government through the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), and MRTA to provide training scholarships to other developing countries to help enhance the capacity of their agencies and human resources. In this collaboration, MRTA played a role in organizing a training course titled “MRTA Experience Sharing on Urban Rail Development, Operation and Maintenance” to share knowledge and experiences in planning, developing, operating, and maintaining the electric train system in urban areas of Thailand with 20 participants from 6 countries: Egypt, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, and Thailand.

The signing of the Record of Discussion marks the first step of academic cooperation between the three agencies and is another proactive role of Thailand in the international rail system development arena to become the hub of knowledge on rail systems in the Asian region by using the real experience from the MRTA’s operations as a model for transferring knowledge to developing countries. It is also an important step in creating an international cooperation network that will lead to the integrated development of rail transportation systems in the future.