The New Skytrain (continued for 2019)

[josephbloggs]

20 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

In the unlikely event any is interested I did do another loop past there on my way home, however it was dark so no photo.  And it was also deserted - not a single person on site so no-one to ask.  The mega truck was still amazing to look at though.

So could be tonight, could be tomorrow, could be next week, no way to know.  But obviously fairly imminent.

Here are some pics from when I went past earlier.  They have one of the big steel beams loaded on to the monstrous mega wheel truck...

[mackayae]

What is the name of the line on Srinagarinda Road south of Huamark?

[Crossy]

17 minutes ago, mackayae said:

What is the name of the line on Srinagarinda Road south of Huamark?

 

Should be the Yellow Line, opens early 2021.

[josephbloggs]

6 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Here are some pics from when I went past earlier.  They have one of the big steel beams loaded on to the monstrous mega wheel truck...

I know someone mentioned they would like to watch this.  I just drove past on my way home from work and did a loop as there was so much going on.  I would say definitely, 99% this is happening tonight.

There are lots of people on top of the pillars either side of the motorway and it is all floodlit up there (normally not at night).  The cranes are all extended.  I did a loop under the motorway along Pattanakarn and there are many people stationed with those tripod mounted laser level things (I saw five or six).  Then at the staging area there are more vehicles, engines are running, and also quite a few police around.  

So surely happening tonight.  Much as I would love to watch it I don't know if it will happen an hour from now, at midnight, at 3am, who knows.  Might pop out again later if I can be bothered, but maybe not.  Hopefully tomorrow morning it will just be in place and I can report that and then stop spamming this thread.  But in my defence this is a major operation that we don't see very often so I keep posting updates for others who may be interested.

[josephbloggs]

13 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

I know someone mentioned they would like to watch this.  I just drove past on my way home from work and did a loop as there was so much going on.  I would say definitely, 99% this is happening tonight.

There are lots of people on top of the pillars either side of the motorway and it is all floodlit up there (normally not at night).  The cranes are all extended.  I did a loop under the motorway along Pattanakarn and there are many people stationed with those tripod mounted laser level things (I saw five or six).  Then at the staging area there are more vehicles, engines are running, and also quite a few police around.  

So surely happening tonight.  Much as I would love to watch it I don't know if it will happen an hour from now, at midnight, at 3am, who knows.  Might pop out again later if I can be bothered, but maybe not.  Hopefully tomorrow morning it will just be in place and I can report that and then stop spamming this thread.  But in my defence this is a major operation that we don't see very often so I keep posting updates for others who may be interested.

And there you go.  Happened last night and one of them is up.  The other one is sitting on the monstrous mega wheel truck thing so assume that'll go up tonight or in the next few days.

This concludes my posts on the topic.

[Lakegeneve]

Thanks for the updates JB, some great pics. A shame that you didn't get to see it being installed. At least you have a 2nd chance.

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, Lakegeneve said:

Thanks for the updates JB, some great pics. A shame that you didn't get to see it being installed. At least you have a 2nd chance.

Thanks LG.  2nd chance also gone - the 2nd beam went up overnight so lifts done on consecutive nights.

I have to say they are really getting on with that yellow line construction pretty well.

[CLW]

Below is a link to what I believe is a test run on the red line electric train.

 

https://www.facebook.com/fm91trafficpro/videos/173136404512447/

[Crossy]

Green Line to Khu Khot is open and operating. Free!!

 

Gold Line is open but apparently has power supply issues, not free, not my project.

 

EDIT MRTA have announced that the Park and Ride at Green Line N23 and N24 will be free until the trial period ends (no indication of when that will be)

[bermondburi]

Some latest pictures of Bang Sue Central looking very shiny. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 12/16/2020 at 4:29 PM, Crossy said:

Green Line to Khu Khot is open and operating. Free!!

 

Gold Line is open but apparently has power supply issues, not free, not my project.

 

EDIT MRTA have announced that the Park and Ride at Green Line N23 and N24 will be free until the trial period ends (no indication of when that will be)

 

Crossy, dunno if it's just me or what, but I can't get my head around the whole rainbow of colors naming scheme these guys have come up with for the various lines (including the many new ones in various stages of development).

 

I grew up (so to speak) in BKK with the "Silom" and "Sukhumvit" lines. And I can manage those kinds of name/location based identifiers.

 

But as the numbers of lines grows and expands, I'm getting lost and befuddled in the green, light green, blue, purple, gold, red, etc etc naming conventions. All of those terms telling me exactly nothing about what particular line they're referring to and where it goes/reaches.

 

[josephbloggs]

48 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Crossy, dunno if it's just me or what, but I can't get my head around the whole rainbow of colors naming scheme these guys have come up with for the various lines (including the many new ones in various stages of development).

 

I grew up (so to speak) in BKK with the "Silom" and "Sukhumvit" lines. And I can manage those kinds of name/location based identifiers.

 

But as the numbers of lines grows and expands, I'm getting lost and befuddled in the green, light green, blue, purple, gold, red, etc etc naming conventions. All of those terms telling me exactly nothing about what particular line they're referring to and where it goes/reaches.

 

I agree with you.  I am a big big fan of the mass transit here and all the development that is under way - it is to be applauded.  But the naming convention is horrible and will cause so many problems for people.

 

Sukhumvit Line.  Silom Line.  ARL.   Nonthaburi Line (Purple).  Circle Line (Blue).  Rangsit Line (One of the red ones).  Surely much easier to deal with?

We're going to have light red, dark red, and pink soon!

 

[Crossy]

@TallGuyJohninBKK I agree 100%, it's no problem allocating a specific colour for each line, but give them a number and/or a name too.

 

Seoul has line numbers (I worked on Lines 5, 7 and 8), Singapore has names (I did the Downtown Line) plus many more cities do something similar, I'm not sure if there's anywhere else that just uses colours. Thailand being unique again I suppose.

 

[FarangryBirds]

I rode the new extension to Khu Kot on Friday.  Is there something they don't want us to see? I'm guessing it's to do with the area near Thai Airforce property, the view is completely blocked on the the left hand side for about 2 stops.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

@TallGuyJohninBKK I agree 100%, it's no problem allocating a specific colour for each line, but give them a number and/or a name too.

 

Seoul has line numbers (I worked on Lines 5, 7 and 8), Singapore has names (I did the Downtown Line) plus many more cities do something similar, I'm not sure if there's anywhere else that just uses colours. Thailand being unique again I suppose.

 

 

I remember traveling within Singapore on their city rail lines, and each of them having a descriptive/location based name as you mention above. Vastly easier to deal with, especially when you're talking about tourists who aren't there and using them year-round.

 

To me, it's kind of bizarre that any of the transit authorities here think the average person is going to be able to mentally keep track of their colors-only naming scheme once the number of different BKK lines gets into the double digits.

 

[CLW]

On 12/20/2020 at 9:02 AM, FarangryBirds said:

I rode the new extension to Khu Kot on Friday.  Is there something they don't want us to see? I'm guessing it's to do with the area near Thai Airforce property, the view is completely blocked on the the left hand side for about 2 stops.

Correct, there's army land (Air-force and 11th Infantry) that you could peek into from the elevated track.

[Lakegeneve]

On 12/20/2020 at 10:35 AM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I remember traveling within Singapore on their city rail lines, and each of them having a descriptive/location based name as you mention above. Vastly easier to deal with, especially when you're talking about tourists who aren't there and using them year-round.

 

To me, it's kind of bizarre that any of the transit authorities here think the average person is going to be able to mentally keep track of their colors-only naming scheme once the number of different BKK lines gets into the double digits.

 

In Singapore  I always think of the line colour first , then the name. In most other places around the world too. Line numbers are of course the easiest but I think you might find that many people easily remember the line colour. Don't forget that some of these lines have been planned since the early 90s and remained the same colour, eg MRT Yellow line.

 

This being BKK, the most confusion regarding line colours is that the MRTA and BMA/BTSC still can't agree on the same colours for the BTS lines.

 

For the BTS the Sukhumvit line is light green, for the MRTA it is dark green. https://www.bts.co.th/eng/routemap.html and https://metro.bemplc.co.th/MRT-System-Map

For the Silom line, BTS is dark green and MRTA is light green. MRTA Map

And for the recent extension from MoChit to Khu khot which the MRTA built, it referred to the project just as "the green line" https://www.mrta.co.th/en/projectelectrictrain/bangkok-and-vicinities/greenline

 

 

[FarangryBirds]

While sat on the runway I noticed a new SRT train parked at DM Station.  I note they had 6 carriages compared to 3 on the Suvanabhumi line, is this how it will be when it goes live?

[Lakegeneve]

22 hours ago, FarangryBirds said:

While sat on the runway I noticed a new SRT train parked at DM Station.  I note they had 6 carriages compared to 3 on the Suvanabhumi line, is this how it will be when it goes live?

 

The SRT has been testing the line since October. It is a completely different SRT commuter system to the ARL (which was built for eventual 10 car operations) so probably not worth comparing. In any event, the ARL will become part of the Eastern HSR line with new rolling stock. The gauges are also different.

 

These sets are made by Mitsubishi and Hitachi, they are the first lot of Japanese rolling stock to be used on any of the new BKK lines.

 

The SRT ordered 15 6 cars sets for the Dark Red line to Rangsit and 10 4 car sets for the Light Red line to Taling Chan. Of course the SRT only ordered these in mid 2016 when the line was originally due to open in late 2016..........(you can blame the 2014 coup for some of that delay but most of it is on the SRT as they started the bidding process in 2010!).

 

Remember, the Dark Red line will eventually be some 87kms long when done (in a few decades at this rate) and the 2 lines will carry nearly 1m pax a day so it is good that they started with 6 car sets.

 

 

[Lakegeneve]

On 11/10/2020 at 8:41 PM, Lakegeneve said:

Construction progress as at 31 October:

1) MRT Orange Line: 71.38%

2) MRT Pink Line: 66.54%

3) MRT Yellow Line: 68.31%

4) SRT Dark Red Line: 100% - S&E Installation: 86% (testing has begun)

5) BMA Gold Line: 98% - testing ongoing. Looking like a late Dec opening, perhaps 24-31 Dec?

Construction progress as at 31 December:

1) MRT Orange Line: 74.37%

2) MRT Pink Line: 70.32%

3) MRT Yellow Line: 73.26%

 

BTS Silom line S4 update: The BMA has decided to rename the station to Saint Louis (from Suksa Wittaya) given the hospital, school & church nearby. Still expect to open by the end of March.

[Hugh Cow]

Does anyone know what is happening on the line from wang wian yai to Mahachai currently serviced by the old SRT train? Will the new line be parallel with the old SRT line or will they just re-lay new track on the existing SRT line or take a complete new route?The existing train is an old rattler but I do enjoy the journey on a train that has a secondary use as a brush cutter. I have used it frequently to Rang Pho. It is currently a decent walk from BTS station WWY to SRT station WWY in the heat and I'm not getting any younger.

[Yellowtail]

2 hours ago, Lakegeneve said:

BTS Silom line S4 update: The BMA has decided to rename the station to Saint Louis (from Suksa Wittaya) given the hospital, school & church nearby. Still expect to open by the end of March.

 

Someone should open a BBQ joint...

[Lakegeneve]

3 hours ago, Hugh Lao said:

Does anyone know what is happening on the line from wang wian yai to Mahachai currently serviced by the old SRT train? Will the new line be parallel with the old SRT line or will they just re-lay new track on the existing SRT line or take a complete new route?The existing train is an old rattler but I do enjoy the journey on a train that has a secondary use as a brush cutter. I have used it frequently to Rang Pho. It is currently a decent walk from BTS station WWY to SRT station WWY in the heat and I'm not getting any younger.

A previous post on page 20 answers your query. Eventually it will be fully replaced by an elevated, extended 87km SRT Dark Red line which will terminate at Mahachai. That's also the reason why the line has not been upgraded.

[Lakegeneve]

On 7/30/2020 at 12:03 AM, Lakegeneve said:

The previous renders had them adjacent to each other.

 

I wouldn't get too worked up about this as it will be many years away if it happens. Look at the brief overview;

• 2004/05: SRT drafts new commuter network plans and included in the OTOP M-MAP
• 2009: SRT Light Red and Dark Red lines approved by then Dem govt,
• 2010-2012: Light Red line built, Dark Red line suffers 2 year contractual dispute with JICA (funding the project), Light Red runs limited services from Dec 2012 to Jan 2014
• 2013: Construction finally starts on the Dark Red line due for late 2016 completion (Bang Sue Terminal is part of the funding)
• mid 2016: Cabinet approves Dark Red northern ext to Thammasat Uni, Dark Red southern ext to Hua Lumphong and Light Red western ext to Salaya
• Aug 2016: SRT finally orders rolling stock for the Light Red and Dark Red lines (remembering that the Dark Red line was due to be completed by late 2016)
• late 2018: tenders for the Thammasat Uni ext and Salaya ext were due to be out but were delayed,
• late 2019: above tenders were again due to go out
• mid 2020: govt announces that tenders for the above will now be further delayed until 2021 in order to explore a PPP project funding basis. That means 4 years after Cabinet approved the first exts for boths lines, the tenders have still not been done!

At this stage the SRT Dark Red and Light Red lines will not open until March - June 2022 contingent on when Bang Sue Terminal is finally completed. That essentially means that it will have taken nearly a decade to build a 26km line!!!

 

Approx order of extension consruction:

1) Dark Red line 10km northern ext to Thammasat Uni - construction should be done in 2-3 years,

2) Light Red line 15 km western ext to Salaya- work should take 3 years,

3) Light Red line 6.5km spur line Taling Chan to Siriraj - construction should take 2-3 years,

4) Dark Red line 11km southern ext to Hua Lumphong - 3-4 years,

5) Light Red line 25km eastern ext to Hua Mark via Phaya Thai - 4-5 years

6) Dark Red line 39km ext to Mahachai via Wong Wian Yai - 5-6 years

Note: with all these est time frames add at least 1 year

 

Also note that in the long term future the SRT Dark Red line might be further extended 40km north from Thammasat Uni to Phachai in Ayutthaya province and a further 24km at the southern end from Mahachai to Maeklong. The Light Red line might be also extended 30km from Salaya to Nakhon Pathom in the future. 

 

At this stage 1-3 might be done by 2025 at the earliest, 4 might be done by 2028 and thus 5 probably wont be considered until after 2025. I would still hope that it doesn't get built and that 6 is prioritised before 5. Meanwhile, we will have the Eastern HSR line being built between 2021 to 2024 which will take over the ARL.

#6 is the section you are concerned with - refer to the maps on previous pages. I wouldn't expect this to start construction until later in the decade given delays in tendering #1 & #2. The Mahachai line is actually one of my favourites in Thailand. 

[Lakegeneve]

As expected, on Tuesday Cabinet formally approved the 2 station, 3km MRT Pink Spur line into Muang Thong Thani.

[Lakegeneve]

On 1/24/2021 at 7:31 AM, Lakegeneve said:

 

BTS Silom line S4 update: The BMA has decided to rename the station to Saint Louis (from Suksa Wittaya) given the hospital, school & church nearby. Still expect to open by the end of March.

Silom line S4 Saint Louis station also opened on Monday a few weeks earlier than previously planned.

[DDBKK]

On 1/24/2021 at 12:31 AM, Lakegeneve said:

Construction progress as at 31 December:

1) MRT Orange Line: 74.37%

2) MRT Pink Line: 70.32%

3) MRT Yellow Line: 73.26%

 

BTS Silom line S4 update: The BMA has decided to rename the station to Saint Louis (from Suksa Wittaya) given the hospital, school & church nearby. Still expect to open by the end of March.

I notice that there is a claim that a specific section of the yellow line will open first (Samrong - Si Lam) which is currently planned for Oct 2021. Any official word on if this is true or not Lakegeneve?

[Lakegeneve]

10 hours ago, DDBKK said:

I notice that there is a claim that a specific section of the yellow line will open first (Samrong - Si Lam) which is currently planned for Oct 2021. Any official word on if this is true or not Lakegeneve?

BSR announced last October that both the MRT Pink line (Minburi - PK 30 to Govt Complex - PK12) and MRT Yellow line (Y23 to Y17) would partially open in October 2021 with both lines then opening in full un June 2022. However, more recently there has been the suggestion that rolling stock delivery and COVID related delays may push this back.

 

Let's see what the situation is by June.

[josephbloggs]

3 hours ago, Lakegeneve said:

BSR announced last October that both the MRT Pink line (Minburi - PK 30 to Govt Complex - PK12) and MRT Yellow line (Y23 to Y17) would partially open in October 2021 with both lines then opening in full un June 2022. However, more recently there has been the suggestion that rolling stock delivery and COVID related delays may push this back.

 

Let's see what the situation is by June.

Construction on the yellow line has been going really well (I live near the Pattanakarn station) but it doesn't look like it could possibly be ready for October.  I would be mightily impressed if it was though.

[Lakegeneve]

15 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Construction on the yellow line has been going really well (I live near the Pattanakarn station) but it doesn't look like it could possibly be ready for October.  I would be mightily impressed if it was though.

Yes, it is proceeding well but we have to see where it is at mid year. Sri Lam (Y17) where the depot is located is a fair way south of your location so it might be more progressed in that section to Samrong.