Asia Era One has offered to continue operating Bangkok's Airport Rail Link for four months after its current contract ends on 30 September, but wants 60 million baht a month and safeguards linked to the wider three-airport high-speed rail project.

The CP-affiliated company proposed running the service from 1 October 2026 until 31 January 2027. The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) board was due to consider the terms on 10 September.

SRT governor Anan Phonimdaeng said the company submitted its written response, after discussions involving Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn. The ministry has been seeking an agreement to avoid an interruption to passenger services.

Conditions tied to high-speed rail contract

Asia Era One says the temporary Airport Rail Link arrangement must not affect its reserved right to terminate the public-private partnership agreement for the high-speed railway connecting Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao airports.

It also wants the right to end the four-month operating arrangement if the SRT files a lawsuit, starts court action including an application for interim measures, or makes a claim under a guarantee connected with the partnership agreement, memorandum of agreement or three-airport high-speed rail project.

Under the proposal, the operator would have to give the SRT at least 30 days' written notice before stopping Airport Rail Link services.

The company is seeking 60 million baht a month for operating management costs and utilities, including water and electricity. Over four months, that would amount to 240 million baht.

The SRT has reported the proposed conditions to Phiphat and was preparing details for the board to decide how to proceed.

What passengers should expect

For foreign residents, tourists and airport-bound travellers, the immediate concern is whether services continue without a gap after September. The Airport Rail Link remains a key connection between central Bangkok and Suvarnabhumi Airport, although reliability problems can make it unsuitable for journeys with little time to spare.

Authorities have introduced supplementary Bangkok Mass Transit Authority buses and mainline rail services to help passengers complete journeys. Travellers using the line for flights or important appointments are advised to allow an additional 20 to 30 minutes, or arrange alternative transport.

Long-running maintenance pressures

The Airport Rail Link opened under the SRT in 2010. By around 2014, heavy use had created a need for major maintenance, but budget limits and difficulties obtaining overseas spare parts hampered work, reducing the number of available trains from nine to five or six.

Operating rights moved to Asia Era One in 2021 as preparation for integration with the three-airport high-speed railway, but problems with the existing system were not resolved.

Scheduled overhauls of control and signalling systems, faults on the ageing network and uncertainty over the transition between public and private management have all affected maintenance planning, train availability and timetables.

Picture courtesy of The Nation

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11 September 2026

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Seems this is a case where a signed contract

.....is the start of negotiations !

Just now, Jim Blue said:

Seems this is a case where a signed contract

.....is the start of negotiations !

It's called moving the goalposts here. Not unusual.

Reading the above damning assessment of the maintenance state makes me very confident in using the service. Not.

Used to take that trains nearly daily, and never experienced any drama, apart from for a while a slowdown between Latkrabang and Suvarnabhumi when they were working on the tracks there... From memory I can only recall one incident when train failed between Ramkhamhaeng and Makkasan stations and passengers had to walk to the station on the tracks.

Has anything else happened that I've missed? Or is this just a plot to make the "other side" look bad?

4 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Long-running maintenance pressures

The Airport Rail Link opened under the SRT in 2010. By around 2014, heavy use had created a need for major maintenance, but budget limits and difficulties obtaining overseas spare parts hampered work, reducing the number of available trains from nine to five or six.

4 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

The Airport Rail Link remains a key connection between central Bangkok and Suvarnabhumi Airport, although reliability problems can make it unsuitable for journeys with little time to spare.

IMO it's not a 'key connection' between Bangkok and the airport. It was at the beginning when it incorporated the red Airport Express trains. But once the Express trains were discontinued, airport bound/arriving travelers with luggage and families had to compete with commuters and packed trains - not knowing they were being herded onto a commuter train. The platform at Phaya Thai Terminus became dangerously overcrowded at times making the return journey to the airport even more uncomfortable. The operators make no attempt to explain the airport 'link' is not an express service and some Google searches still indicate it as an express.

The transit link is a farce. In comparison, I can take the century old Picadilly line from Heathrow T2 to my workplace without bother. I was off the aircraft, through immigration and onboard the Tube in 35 minutes, and in South Kensington 35 minutes later, all for 5 pound 60 in peak morning rush. Never once have I been able to have a proper seamless journey with the Bangkok airport link. major disappointment. It's not particularly time saving taking the airport link from central Bangkok.

5 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

The Airport Rail Link opened under the SRT in 2010. By around 2014, heavy use had created a need for major maintenance, but budget limits and difficulties obtaining overseas spare parts hampered work, reducing the number of available trains from nine to five or six.

that is a big problem all over Thailand.. They are bad in maintenance with a result that as soon problems occur they don't have an answer to solve it immediately... and of course budget limits. A lot of money is being thrown away on all kind things but for important things there is no money.. committees. meetings, kick off's, etc etc, consuming a lot of money that could be used better. Although nobody will hear me my advice is always, it is not the amount of money you have, but how you spend it, which causes problems.

32 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

that is a big problem all over Thailand.. They are bad in maintenance with a result that as soon problems occur they don't have an answer to solve it immediately... and of course budget limits. A lot of money is being thrown away on all kind things but for important things there is no money.. committees. meetings, kick off's, etc etc, consuming a lot of money that could be used better. Although nobody will hear me my advice is always, it is not the amount of money you have, but how you spend it, which causes problems.

I think it's all those things to some extent. But the overseas supplier - Siemens or Bombardier, etc - would have completed a deal with a full suite of things attached like maintenance, mechanic/technician training, related travel. But it's possible that some of that didn't happen due to corruption, neglegence or both. The Airport Express was the key component of the Airport Link. It's disappearance from service turned it into just another elevated MRT commuter train that also had an airport stop.

Because many overseas arrivals think it's an express train they get on it planning to switch to the BTS Skytrain at Phaya Thai Station. With their suitcases and kids, etc. It's a real sh!tshow there during rush hours. The BTS is already packed. The Airport Link is now only barely useful for travel to the airport if you go alone and with carry on only. A family with luggage should always take a taxi or a Grab car. But they don't know that until they are in the middle of the crowd.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by ronnie50

1 hour ago, Patong2021 said:

It's not particularly time saving taking the airport link from central Bangkok.

Guess it depends on time of day. In my case, and I lived stone throw away from Ratchaprarop Airport Link, the train would save me between half an hour and 2 hours, depending on the time of day and the traffic on the Rama 9 road. Right now, if I were still there, it would take a few hours just to get off that road given all the construction in the area, while the train is still just 25 minutes all the way into the terminal, plus up to 12 minutes wait between the trains.

To me, it was far more reliable than taxi. And if taking Grab... I'd be at the airport before someone accepted my ride and showed up to pick me up. Bangkok does have several "centers" so experience may be different where you were staying.

SRT says it all. A lumbering bureaucratic organization. Expensive rolling stock cannibalized for spares is the norm.

1 hour ago, tomazbodner said:

Guess it depends on time of day. In my case, and I lived stone throw away from Ratchaprarop Airport Link, the train would save me between half an hour and 2 hours, depending on the time of day and the traffic on the Rama 9 road.

Yes, but that Asoke-Petchburi intersection (where the bus was hit by the train), is quite possibly the absolute worst traffic snarl in Bangkok. The train would make sense in your case, or MRT to a station with less traffic jams and hail a taxi.

57 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

I think it's all those things to some extent. But the overseas supplier - Siemens or Bombardier, etc - would have completed a deal with a full suite of things attached like maintenance, mechanic/technician training, related travel. But it's possible that some of that didn't happen due to corruption, neglegence or both. The Airport Express was the key component of the Airport Link. It's disappearance from service turned it into just another elevated MRT commuter train that also had an airport stop.

Because many overseas arrivals think it's an express train they get on it planning to switch to the BTS Skytrain at Phaya Thai Station. With their suitcases and kids, etc. It's a real sh!tshow there during rush hours. The BTS is already packed. The Airport Link is now only barely useful for travel to the airport if you go alone and with carry on only. A family with luggage should always take a taxi or a Grab car. But they don't know that until they are in the middle of the crowd.

Siemans was the rail car provider. Bombardier was sold to Alstom in 2021. Siemans fulfilled its contractual obligations and has a significant presence in Thailand proving a large quantity of rolling stock and core systems to Bangkok's BTS, MRT a airport link. It offers a full range of operating support including training, spare part inventory, and technical expertise. The failing is more likely due to Thai government overburdening of the airport link, forcing the line to take more passengers than it was intended to service during peak hours. If there is a service quality failure, then the responsibility lies exclusively with the Thai operators who are running the system and who determine when there will be maintenance, or service.