Bangkok Airport Express Train To Open Next Week

[webfact]

Bangkok airport express train to open next week

BANGKOK (AFP) -- An elevated train line linking Bangkok's city centre and its main airport will be fully open for service next week after months of delays, the Thai state railway said Wednesday.

The non-stop "airport link", which covers 28 kilometres (17 miles) and cost 25.9 billion baht (800 million dollars), will officially open on Monday. Trains are due to run daily every 40 minutes, between 6am and midnight.

After months of test runs, the express service will offer passengers a 15-minute journey to Suvarnabhumi airport from Bangkok's centre for 100 baht, a spokeswoman for the State Railway of Thailand said.

Passengers returning the same day will not need to purchase another ticket.

A second city line will offer a 30-minute journey at a cheaper rate, stopping at eight stations along the way.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2010-08-18

[RickBradford]

The non-stop "airport link", which covers 28 kilometres (17 miles) and cost 25.9 billion baht (800 million dollars)

Isn't that a little pricy?

[cardholder]

The non-stop "airport link", which covers 28 kilometres (17 miles) and cost 25.9 billion baht (800 million dollars)

Isn't that a little pricy?

it includes Tea Money.

[apetley]

The Airport Express was initially scheduled to open in 2006, if my memory serves me right, so "months of delays" hardly seems an apt description of the wait.

[IvanDobsky]

runs every 40 minutes? doesn't that seem to be a little infrequent?

"A second city line will offer a 30-minute journey at a cheaper rate"

There are two lines? or do they mean two trains?

From Suvarnaboom to where exactly?

We appear to have a deficit of information

[cardholder]

runs every 40 minutes? doesn't that seem to be a little infrequent?

"A second city line will offer a 30-minute journey at a cheaper rate"

There are two lines? or do they mean two trains?

From Suvarnaboom to where exactly?

We appear to have a deficit of information

The information is all there in previous reports and can be Googled

[marquess]

Have they actually got the infrastructure in place for the local stations? I am near Hua Mark and can see the thing from Rama 9 which could really do with a local stop, but have seen nothing to indicate that one might alight from a train at that point. Unless of course they are expecting people to ab sail down!

[whybother]

Have they actually got the infrastructure in place for the local stations? I am near Hua Mark and can see the thing from Rama 9 which could really do with a local stop, but have seen nothing to indicate that one might alight from a train at that point. Unless of course they are expecting people to ab sail down!

Everything says that there is a Hua Mark station ...

[powderpuff]

Map

What they are calling Ramkamhaeng is at NASA, Hua Mark is at Floraville.

[RedNIvar]

Map

What they are calling Ramkamhaeng is at NASA, Hua Mark is at Floraville.

I live at Floraville, although it looks close, there is no direct road to the station and you got to go around Patthanakarn which is about 1.5Km. That sucks, well anyway....

[pmcd8243]

I took a ride on the airport train this week for a quick look,(Its free until Aug 23). I got on at the Phaya Thai Skytrain station. This is the last stop from the airport. A connecting bridge from the skytrain elevated platform to the Airport train platform is in progress but no one was working on it on Monday. The airport train station was extremely hot with no air circulating. Its outdoors with a large metal roof with no vents. The security guards had home made hand fans to cool themselves. The train is basic. Bench seats with standing strap hanger areas. The ride to the airport was quick about 30 minutes( this was the local not the express). On arrival at the airport you enter a large hall that connects to the ground floor of the terminal building. Starting next week fares will be 15 baht for local and 100 baht for express. So if you are staying on Sukimvit near a skytrain station and you don,t have too many bags you can get there for less then 100 Baht) The local train only takes a little more time and runs more often. If there are 2 of you and/or you are not going somewhere near a skytrain or subway stop a taxt is a better way to go

P

[GOGGLES]

I took a ride on the airport train this week for a quick look,(Its free until Aug 23). I got on at the Phaya Thai Skytrain station. This is the last stop from the airport. A connecting bridge from the skytrain elevated platform to the Airport train platform is in progress but no one was working on it on Monday. The airport train station was extremely hot with no air circulating. Its outdoors with a large metal roof with no vents. The security guards had home made hand fans to cool themselves. The train is basic. Bench seats with standing strap hanger areas. The ride to the airport was quick about 30 minutes( this was the local not the express). On arrival at the airport you enter a large hall that connects to the ground floor of the terminal building. Starting next week fares will be 15 baht for local and 100 baht for express. So if you are staying on Sukimvit near a skytrain station and you don,t have too many bags you can get there for less then 100 Baht) The local train only takes a little more time and runs more often. If there are 2 of you and/or you are not going somewhere near a skytrain or subway stop a taxt is a better way to go

P

Last June paid THB230 for 2 people in Metered Taxi to Sukhumvit Soi3 hotel forecourt. The Skytrain will be a rip off if you are not travelling alone.

G.

[cobra]

May be practical for people coming in light, but for long-haulers with bags it will be onerous trying to board, disembark toting suitcases, duffles, etc,

add to it the usual hoard trying to board / exit without any organization or consideration, then there's the flights of stairs at stations to contend with.

Edited August 18, 2010 by cobra

[cardholder]

May be practical for people coming in light, but for long-haulers with bags it will be onerous trying to board, disembark toting suitcases, duffles, etc,

add to it the usual hoard trying to board / exit without any organization or consideration, then there's the flights of stairs at stations to contend with.

Ever tried London Underground with a suitcase ?

[moe666]

May be practical for people coming in light, but for long-haulers with bags it will be onerous trying to board, disembark toting suitcases, duffles, etc,

add to it the usual hoard trying to board / exit without any organization or consideration, then there's the flights of stairs at stations to contend with.

Ever tried London Underground with a suitcase ?

Same same but different.

[apetley]

May be practical for people coming in light, but for long-haulers with bags it will be onerous trying to board, disembark toting suitcases, duffles, etc,

add to it the usual hoard trying to board / exit without any organization or consideration, then there's the flights of stairs at stations to contend with.

Ever tried London Underground with a suitcase ?

Yes I have and it's not fun but then again apart from the Heathrow station, which is a breeze, the rest of the network is over a century old and not as the Bangkok Airport link supposedly is a dedicated link to the so called hub of Asian International Airports.

[Spee]

add to it the usual hoard trying to board / exit without any organization or consideration, then there's the flights of stairs at stations to contend with.

Ever tried London Underground with a suitcase ?

Nope, but I have tried the Tokyo subway system with multiple bags. Not fun.

I don't get the attraction .... or the need .... or the cost justification, other than "keeping up with the Somchai's." Total travel time door to door is likely to be much less in a taxi, and the premium of a few more baht is well worth it. It's not like Chicago or NYC where a taxi or shuttle bus into the city center is 15x-20x the price of mass transit.

[DP25]

I don't get the attraction .... or the need .... or the cost justification

I'll certainly be using it every time, I hate taking taxis from the airport. Even if you don't use it for the airport service, this line is also just as mucb a standard mass transit line as the BTS and MRT. It's packed with commuters every single day.

[Piengrudee]

Really? Yet another promise?

[p_brownstone]

A concern I have with this Service is that there are actually 2 different trains running on one set of Tracks.

The “Express” service is non-stop from Makkasan to Suvannaphum Airport – which it is claimed will take 15 minutes - but there is another “City Line” which stops at 9 different stations between Phayathai and Suvannaphum Airport and the schedule says this will take 30 minutes.

Doing the simple maths it’s pretty obvious that these two services will have problems somewhere along the Line – a slow train, stopping frequently, being chased by a faster non-stop Service.

The “Hua Maak” station (actually nowhere near what I would call Hua Maak, it’s on Srinakarin Road behind Floraville / Max Valu – old Jusco) has “passing tracks” into which the slow City Line train is supposed to “duck” and wait as the faster non-stop train goes by. I know the whole thing is Computer controlled and similar systems are in operation in other Countries but it just seems like a recipe for disaster in a place like Thailand.

Patrick

[SurfRider]

.

"Doing the simple maths it's pretty obvious that these two services will have problems somewhere along the Line – a slow train, stopping frequently, being chased by a faster non-stop Service."

Sounds like a fairly simple system. Fast train leaves Bangkok and slow train departs 5 minutes later. Fast train arrives airport in 15 minutes and waits for slow train, which requires 30 minutes. 5 minutes later, the fast train departs for the city, followed by the slow train 5 minutes later. That's probably why the fast train runs only once every 40 minutes.

.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

I don't get the attraction .... or the need .... or the cost justification, other than "keeping up with the Somchai's." Total travel time door to door is likely to be much less in a taxi, and the premium of a few more baht is well worth it. It's not like Chicago or NYC where a taxi or shuttle bus into the city center is 15x-20x the price of mass transit.

Seriously? Every time I've gone from Sukhumvit > Suvarnabhumi it's taken maybe average of 40 min [including one 3 hour trip, albeit during the Red Shirt riots] to get out there and 1hr 20min avg [with a number of 2 hr trips] coming back.

15min plus 5min to get to the train station...this will be amazing.

[asiawatcher]

Anyone know of the cost of parking at the Asoke terminal? Also out and back one day no extra ticket required? Oh well. I'll let them know in HK and Singapore not to miss the plane! Saves 100 baht! But as to the 'test pilot' report - hope they remember to turn on the air conditioning - even if it is 15 (or 30) minutes!

[damian]

The service is quie simple to operate even without using the overtaking tracks at Hua Mak the thing is the running times of each service which has been confused by the press. Each service will run every 15 minutes and it takes the local service takes 27min Phaya Thai to Suvarnabhumi and the Express takes 15 min Makassan to Suvarnabhumi

So heres an example timetable:

Service Dep. P. Thai Dep. Asoke Arr Airport

Exp 1200 1215

Local 1200 1203 1227

Exp 1215 1230

Local 1215 1218 1242

Exp 1230 1245

Very simple for Thais to work it out chai mai?

[damian]

Sorry here is a better format:

Service

Dep. P.Thai

Dep. Asoke

Arr. Airport

Exp

1200

1215

Local

1200

1203

1227

Exp

1215

1230

Local

1215

1218

1242

Exp

1230

1245

[damian]

No its not................

I give up!

[Straight8]

So where exactly go to board the express train?? What station other than Phaya Thai???

Also if I get the local train, can I board it from Asok BTS??

[whybother]

So where exactly go to board the express train?? What station other than Phaya Thai???

Also if I get the local train, can I board it from Asok BTS??

Asoke BTS is not on the Airport line. You would need to catch the MRT from Suhkumvit to Petchaburi and then walk (over a road, and the old rail line, and about 3-400 metres) to Makkasan station. It would be easier to go by BTS around to Phaya Thai.

You can only board the express train from Makkasan station (from what I understand). So if you're catching the local (non-express) train from Phaya Thai, you would need to change at Makkasan to get on the express. It's probably nearly easier to go the whole way on the local train.

[Bkkorupcountry]

So where exactly go to board the express train?? What station other than Phaya Thai???

Also if I get the local train, can I board it from Asok BTS??

Asoke BTS is not on the Airport line. You would need to catch the MRT from Suhkumvit to Petchaburi and then walk (over a road, and the old rail line, and about 3-400 metres) to Makkasan station. It would be easier to go by BTS around to Phaya Thai.

You can only board the express train from Makkasan station (from what I understand). So if you're catching the local (non-express) train from Phaya Thai, you would need to change at Makkasan to get on the express. It's probably nearly easier to go the whole way on the local train.

I live next to Asoke BTS / Sukhumvit MRT. A taxi would cost me Bht 220 + 70 toll charges and takes about 40 minutes. It's not worth the effort to make my way to Makkasan as it would probably take the same amount of time, just to save Bht 100 or so (presuming that I take a taxi from Asoke to Makksan). At least in a direct taxi, I don't have to contend with crowds and heat and rain and luggage.

[p_brownstone]

I personally believe that the non-stop “Express” Makkasan – Suwannaphum link will die out from lack of customers - within 2 years, maximum - and the whole service will devolve to just the “City Line” and simply become a local and well patronised commuter link between Eastern Bangkok and the centre of town - with a much more regular Service than can currently be dictated by the 2 different timetables involved.

Patrick