Passenger complains of dangerously overcrowded Airport Rail Link

[whaleboneman]

2 hours ago, Happy enough said:

over head power lines are still dangerous depending on the voltage and your distance from them

Has anyone been electrocuted stepping on or off the airport link? Not sure what you think the danger would be.

[8OA8]

2 hours ago, Dave67 said:

London Underground 6-30 to 8 30-am and 16-30 to 19-00

That's why they charge less to travel outside those times.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares/peak-and-off-peak-times

[anon789561]

5 minutes ago, whaleboneman said:

Has anyone been electrocuted stepping on or off the airport link? Not sure what you think the danger would be.

i have no idea about who has or hasn't been killed on the airport link which i have never personally used. what i can say is that overhead cables are still dangerous. usually i think the power at stations is reduced more so than on track. they take the power on enter and exit but hardly any voltage at the station

[Dave67]

4 minutes ago, 8OA8 said:

That's why they charge less to travel outside those times.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares/peak-and-off-peak-times

Yes I know unfortunately employers aren't too flexible with start and finish hours

[Bangkok Barry]

9 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

From all the over-crowding it is clear that the Skytrain, MRT and Airport links are a roaring success... 

 

So... the suggestion to improve upon this success by adding more carriages is somewhat of a no-brainer - this has been called for for the past couple of years.

 

For the life of me I can't fathom why additional carriages have not already been added to a service which is currently being run (at times) at the brink of its capacity. 

 

They cost money, and they have zero interest in spending that on passenger safety and comfort. The very people who make that decision probably never use the system themselves, be it the airport service, BTS or MRT. They are too important to use public transport.

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, Dave67 said:

I haven't  been in London for a few years, but its always been a crush and on the Tube in summer very hot

The service has been massively improved, financed by exorbitant fares, with trains every couple of minutes to most destinations. Much better than a few years ago. And some even have aircon. Ironically, those only run above ground now, but deep level ones are in the works.

[Letseng]

If I have to travel more than one station on BTS I take a taxi. Many times tourists with large cases and bagpacks squeeze onto jampacked trains at commuter time. Same with baby strollers. They can afford to visit Thailand but can't afford a taxi to the airport.

[orchidfan]

Hong Kong's MTR is always packed to capacity with special door staff to manage loading and stop the push when the carriage is full. And I mean Full. Can barely look at your mobile phone!

But they have long trains and they run ever couple of minutes. .

The Airport Express is dedicated to that operation on a separate line AND the fare is so high that normal commuters wouldn't bother with it.

( like the Airport Express from Heathrow ).

[Martian]

I think the airport link should be used by those going to and from the airport and used not so much as a "daily commuter" train. But that's just me.

[anon789561]

Just now, orchidfan said:

Hong Kong's MTR is always packed to capacity with special door staff to manage loading and stop the push when the carriage is full. And I mean Full. Can barely look at your mobile phone!

But they have long trains and they run ever couple of minutes. .

The Airport Express is dedicated to that operation on a separate line AND the fare is so high that normal commuters wouldn't bother with it.

( like the Airport Express from Heathrow ).

usually takes a London underground operator at least 3 times to leave a platform during rush hours as need the electric circuit that shows all doors are closed to move the train. people just cram in and someone has to get off. BKK is no where in comparison to the overcrowding on London trains and tubes

[kartman]

Complainer needs some video instruction and told to chill out

 

[shady86]

If I have to travel more than one station on BTS I take a taxi. Many times tourists with large cases and bagpacks squeeze onto jampacked trains at commuter time. Same with baby strollers. They can afford to visit Thailand but can't afford a taxi to the airport.

'Quality tourists' coming to Thailand. Maybe they fed up with taxis rejecting and not using meter so they end up with BTS.

[Zyxel]

I know some Thai people who leave near Ban Tap Chang station and take the train every morning to go to work in Bangkok. Now with so much people waiting on the platform at rush hours, they board the not so crowded train going to Suvarnabhumi (opposite direction), stay on board the train at the airport and wait for it to go back to Bangkok.

[Emster23]

7 hours ago, jonclark said:

So why did they put in stops at lat krabang, bang tap chang, ramkangheng and makkasan. Hardly must visit sites on the tourist map?

I live in Ramkhamhaeng. They stop there as a favor to me. Nice place: real people with real jobs, few bars or any of that, clean, not so many farang

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, Letseng said:

If I have to travel more than one station on BTS I take a taxi. Many times tourists with large cases and bagpacks squeeze onto jampacked trains at commuter time. Same with baby strollers. They can afford to visit Thailand but can't afford a taxi to the airport.

I think it is more of a case of not trusting the taxi drivers.

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, kartman said:

Complainer needs some video instruction and told to chill out

 

Like the Chinese at an "all you can eat" buffet.

[Lakegeneve]

16 hours ago, grego49 said:

The airport link is there for  mainly for tourists to get from Phaya Thai to the airport,if locals arnt happy catch a bus.

The ARL is a commuter line so it serves mainly locals not the airport. The problem is that is has been too successful and the SRT hasn't order new rolling stock though a budget was approved back in mid 2013.

[chatette]

16 hours ago, grego49 said:

The airport link is there for  mainly for tourists to get from Phaya Thai to the airport,if locals arnt happy catch a bus.

Wrong.
The train that stops enroute is a designated commuter train. The Airport Express service, which stopped operating  several years ago, was geared to airport users: lots of seats, spacious, and luggage racks.
The service reportedly stopped because the operator, SRT, failed to sign a maintenance contractor, so there was no one to service it or even fix it.
But the express more likely disappeared because very few people used it. There was a wide gap between the commuter and express fares and nothing to stop tourists from squeezing into the cheaper commuter train.
And that's played out quite well for the SRT since running one service instead of two -- one of which was largely empty, delivers wider profit margins, especially with the punters stuffed in like sardines both ways.
Customer comfort or safety? Pfft!
Simple solution already exists to overcrowding: resume the express, market and/or price it professionally and don't allow people with large bags to use the commuter service. But I'm off in LaLa Land now....

[Lakegeneve]

The main issue here is that the SRT 1st approved a budget to purchase 7 new, 5 car trains back in mid 2013! Had they ordered them by late 2013 we would've had new trains by early 2016 and capacity would not have been an issue.

 

They haven't order them due to a combination of reasons of eternal dysfunction, corruption allegations (which cancelled a tender to purchase Chinese made trains in 2016) and more recently that the Eastern HSR line will use the ARL as the basis for the HSR line which will run to DMK. Thus, late last year the SRT stated it needed to wait on the purchase until that tender for the HSR line is done.

 

These delays really are criminal. During this time daily pax numbers have risen from 40-45k to around 70k per day. The current number of 9 trains just can't cope with that number. 

 

You can read literally years and years of updates on delays regarding the rolling stock in this thread; 

I just posted an update on the new rolling stock earlier in that thread; 

 

Quote

Once the civil works tender is completed, a tender regarding rolling stock should be issued sometime later this year (hopefully).  It is worth noting that period from contract to delivery usually takes 2 years for new rolling stock. Thus, even if a contract was signed in late 2018/early 2019, we won't see any new  trains until mid 2021 at the earliest. And that's without any delays.

The SRT Board has to have some sort of record when they approve the budget for purchasing 7 new, 5 car sets in mid 2013 and it takes at least 8 years for any new trains to be running!

 

 

[Lakegeneve]

12 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

From all the over-crowding it is clear that the Skytrain, MRT and Airport links are a roaring success... 

 

So... the suggestion to improve upon this success by adding more carriages is somewhat of a no-brainer - this has been called for for the past couple of years.

 

For the life of me I can't fathom why additional carriages have not already been added to a service which is currently being run (at times) at the brink of its capacity. 

It is one of the fundamental weakness of the private concessionaire model that is used in bangkok for mass transit. Both private companies have not ordered new rolling stock in time to meet pax growth primarily due to a lack of finance. And there is no compulsion provision in their contracts for the government to force them to do so. 

 

In BEMs (formerly BMCL) case they have not ordered any new rolling stick until an order was placed last year for when the Blue line ext opens two stages in late 2019 and early 2020. It really is scandalous when one considers the overcrowding at stations during peak hours. 

 

This is what is currently on order for the MRT Blue line and BTS Dark Green line for when extensions open in the next 2 years. However, even these orders will most likely not be sufficient to meet expected pax growth on the network.

 

Quote

 

A) BEM Blue Line (MRT) -

BEM finally placed an order with Siemens a few weeks ago for new rolling stock!!! Originally, they were going to order more stock in 2008 but had to defer due to debt restructuring issues so it has been a long wait! BEM has ordered 35 new 3 car sets which will be delivered in 3 stages ; 

1) 3 sets in late 2018,
2) 15 sets in early 2019,
3) 17 sets in late 2019.
(Note: BEM should be moving to 4 or 5 cars sets by now as expected pax after the extension are 750k-800k rising to 1m by 2022)

 

B ) BTSC Dark Green (Suk) line  (BTS) -

1) The BTSC has ordered for 22 new 4 car sets from Siemens in May 2016 for the when the Samut Prakhan extension. These are being built in Turkey with expected deliveries in late 2018 & early 2019.

2) At the same time, the BTSC ordered 24 more 4 car sets of CRRC (Chinese) for the North ext to KuKot/Lam Lukka rd. These should be delivered in late 2018.

(Note: 4 sets will be kept for reserve/repairs etc)

 

Full list of other train orders here (post #629, p42)

 

Edited March 15, 2018 by Lakegeneve

[Banana7]

SRT are not responding to their customers needs  nor do they understand how to run a modern high-speed train service.

 

The airport link is overwhelmed with passengers and SRT doesn't even acknowledge nor respond adequately to customer complaints.

 

Maybe the General needs to do some house cleaning at SRT?

 

 

 

[pieeyed]

Obviously Simon says. 

 

 

[NanLaew]

On 3/14/2018 at 6:21 PM, Thian said:

Good to read about people demanding thailand to upgrade their transport and airports...so i'm not the only one who thinks it's about time to invest...

The time to invest in the current MRT and SRT was about 8 to 10 years ago when the original network and rolling stock was maxxed out.

 

Submarines first!

[NanLaew]

4 hours ago, Banana7 said:

SRT are not responding to their customers needs  nor do they understand how to run a modern high-speed train service.

 

The airport link is overwhelmed with passengers and SRT doesn't even acknowledge nor respond adequately to customer complaints.

 

Maybe the General needs to do some house cleaning at SRT?

 

That's a very, very big and very, very dirty house there.

[ostyan]

Bangkok....

If you have one hour you can easily take 80-100 km in the country.

Bangkok 50 meters sometimes.....

 

 

[Letseng]

On 3/15/2018 at 11:58 AM, shady86 said:

On 3/15/2018 at 11:04 AM, Letseng said:

If I have to travel more than one station on BTS I take a taxi. Many times tourists with large cases and bagpacks squeeze onto jampacked trains at commuter time. Same with baby strollers. They can afford to visit Thailand but can't afford a taxi to the airport.

'Quality tourists' coming to Thailand. Maybe they fed up with taxis rejecting and not using meter so they end up with BTS.

Never have a taxi problem. Nhave no sympathy for whinging tourists. And btw "quality tourists" use limo service not Bts or taxi.

[HerbalEd]

On 3/14/2018 at 4:01 AM, Thian said:

ALL the skytrains are overloaded every day in the centre of the city...it's terrible and same goes for the subway.

 

My biggest fear is being in an overloaded skytrain when it breaks down in full sun high above everything...then what can we do?? Smash a window and walk over the tracks? Are those tracks under high power? 

 

Also at Siam it's common to wait for the next train because it's full...nothing new there. 

"All" is very inaccurate. Yes, during morning and evening rush hour BTS and MRT can indeed be very crowded. However, during a lot of the day, the cars are far from being crowded.

[brewsterbudgen]

If I have to travel more than one station on BTS I take a taxi. Many times tourists with large cases and bagpacks squeeze onto jampacked trains at commuter time. Same with baby strollers. They can afford to visit Thailand but can't afford a taxi to the airport.

Only traveling one station on the BTS is ridiculous. Why not just walk or take a motorbike if the tourists and parents with strollers anger you so much?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[impulse]

On 3/15/2018 at 3:18 PM, Lakegeneve said:

The ARL is a commuter line so it serves mainly locals not the airport. The problem is that is has been too successful and the SRT hasn't order new rolling stock though a budget was approved back in mid 2013.

 

Have they paid for the last ones they received?

 

[cnx355]

On ‎14‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 10:16 PM, grego49 said:

The airport link is there for  mainly for tourists to get from Phaya Thai to the airport,if locals arnt happy catch a bus.

But it would be great if the Express Line was put back to operate as there were car with seat and space for luggage like in Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur.

 

Unfortunately it seem they used the part form the Express Line Cars  to  operate the City Line which is like a metro car.