Driving Collaboration in Rail Freight Services: A Thematic and MICMAC Analysis of Stakeholder Factors in Thailand

Background: Strengthening, coordinating, and sustaining rail freight services is one of the most pressing yet neglected challenges for transport planners in developing economies. Focusing on the institutional context of Thai freight transport, we assess, contextualise, and rank the collaboration factors shaping rail freight competitiveness. Methods: MICMAC analysis was selected because it does not require a pre-defined hierarchical structure and it is computationally straightforward for small variable sets. A qualitative study comprising semi-structured interviews was conducted with participants from government transport agencies, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), private logistics operators, and freight customers. Results: The analysis extracted six key factors: government policy, finance, infrastructure readiness, technology and innovation, information sharing, and human resource capacity. Government policy alone occupies the driving quadrant, exerting the strongest systemic influence. Finance and infrastructure readiness emerge as linkage factors, simultaneously shaping and being shaped by the wider network, whereas technology, information sharing, and human resources sit in the dependent quadrant and respond to change. Conclusions: This classification allows us to derive seven collaboration strategies matched with appropriate policy levers; the three highest-ranked are policy collaboration, economic instruments, and multimodal integration.