Short of trains, Airport Rail Link keeps passengers waiting

[Lakegeneve]

21 hours ago, Cadbury said:

These are the key words....Airport Rail Link. It was intended as a link for airline passengers to get from Suvarnabhumi to the city. Now it has become a suburban rail stop link for all and sundry. Cash flow is what counts!

Never mind what happened to the express direct train...obviously no money to be made there. All greed once again.

AT, I was actually typing much the same reply at the same time as you....

 

On the contrary, it was always built as a commuter/suburban line witch terminate at an Airport, a dual operation line with an all stop commuter and an express. That's why there are other stations. The long term plans envisage eventual 10 car operations in 2029 (which is why the platforms are so long). That's not 10 cars for people going to the airport.....The mean problem has been is that the line was actually much more successful than projected and pax rates grew years ahead of projections. That is why the SRT approved the purchase of 7 new 5 cars trains in mid 2013. The timing for the purchase was right but the dysfunctional SRT couldn't actually do a tender until 2016 (which was subsequently cancelled). 

 

They Express train hasn't operated since Sept 2014 as it was only getting 150 pax a day! The original idea was poorly conceived and in reality implemented to early. The SRT should have extended the line ASAP to  Bang Sue (always planned) then DMK after the 2 airport policy change. Then started Express services. 

[Lakegeneve]

Another thing to consider about the planning quality of the SRT. When they were building the ARL they were planning a new commuter/suburban network in BKK.

 

The 2 Red lines. This is the plan that the SRT came up with;

1) City Line to the Airport - standard gauge, electric. Extended to Bang Sue (and DMK).

2) Light Red line to Taling Chan - narrow gauge, diesel. Extended to Salaya and Hua Mark. Essentially to run directly parallel to the ARL with a new viaduct and new stations directly alongside the ARL stations!

3) Dark Red line to Rangsit - narrow gauge, electric. Extended to Thammasat Uni and eventually Mahachai via WWY to be 89kms lone when done.

 

Now what is the first thing that everyone should notice? All lines were planned to be built to be incompatible with each other! The rolling stock and systems for each line would be unique for that line only! No where in the world would any operator contemplate such a plan!

 

Subsequent, to this the SRT did eventually decide to electrify the Light Red line after pressure from JICA who provided the lion to build the Dark Red line. (Note the Light Red line was completed in 2012 and ran an hourly service from Dec 2012 to Jan 2014 when it was suspended due to no rolling stock. Thus, a 15km line completed in 2012 hasn't operated for 4 years due to a lack of rolling stock!). 

Edited March 31, 2018 by Lakegeneve

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 minutes ago, Lakegeneve said:

Also to update you, 100 of the first batch of NGV buses are already on the streets plying routes for the last week. The next batch of 100 is due at the end of April and another batch of 100 in May. So you should start seeing them around in the coming months.

 

They still need another 2k buses once these 489 are delivered so that might take  few more decades!

 

Ahh... I missed this little item in the news in the past week:

 

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/bangkok-commuters-can-now-enjoy-new-buses-five-routes/

 

Quote

 

Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), operator of city bus service, today (March 27) put into service 100 new NGV-powered buses on five main routes to serve Bangkok people who have been waiting for the new air-conditioned buses for over a decade.

 

The official services of this new bus fleet followed yesterday’s ceremony to commence the operation of the bus service by Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith at the BMTA head office. The first fleet of 100 buses from a total 489 buses will shuttle on five main routes now operated by buses Numbers  20,  21, 105, 138 and 140.

 

The remainder of the bus fleet will be delivered to the BMTA by June of this year. The BMTA signed a contract last December to buy 489 NGV-powered buses from CHO-SCN, a consortium of Scan Inter Plc and Cho Thavee Plc.

 

 

So what's going to happen to all the prior round procurement buses from China/Malaysia that have been parked in the MRTA yard out by Rama 9, after that contract was scrapped?

 

[Bangkok Barry]

54 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Ahh... I missed this little item in the news in the past week:

 

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/bangkok-commuters-can-now-enjoy-new-buses-five-routes/

 

 

So what's going to happen to all the prior round procurement buses from China/Malaysia that have been parked in the MRTA yard out by Rama 9, after that contract was scrapped?

 

 

Maybe the same as a load of fire engines involved in the usual 'irregularities' some years ago that were left to rust.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Nice and shiny at first then maintenance comes in.

 

Just like a Thai condo.

[Langsuan Man]

13 hours ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

Nice and shiny at first then maintenance comes in.

 

Just like a Thai condo.

or a Thai girl 

[Lakegeneve]

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!

The SRT is now looking at leasing some rolling stock by next year until the new Eastern HSR line is done.