BMA Progress On BTS Silom Line Extension, Set For Services Next Year

[webfact]

BMA progress on BTS Silom line extension, set for services next year

BANGKOK, Feb 10 – The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will go ahead with its BTS Skytrain Silom Line extension for a distance of 5.3km (Taksin-Petchakasem), expected to be ready for services by Aug 12, or Her Majesty Queen Sirikit's birthday, next year, 2013.

Bangkok Deputy Governor Teerachon Manomaipiboon spoke after going for an inspection at the construction area.

The BTS Silom line extension to the Thonburi side of Bangkok, west of the Chao Phraya River, comprises the four stations of Potinimitr, Talad Plu, Wuttakad, and Bang Wa.

For additional operations, the existing Wongwian Yai (S8) and the Talad Plu (S10) Stations provide commuters with Park & Ride services, while a Skywalk will be at S10 to link with the BMA's express bus service -- Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) -- at its Ratchaphruek Station.

The route between S8 and S10 is expected to be open on Dec 5, which falls on His Majesty King Bhumibol's birthday, this year. Around 126,000 passengers/day are expected once the full line is open for services in August next year.

Bangkok Deputy Governor Teerachon also inspected the BRT route and cited it is to be expanded to meet the size of Greater Bangkok’s mass transit network and to support the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup, to be hosted in November at a new stadium in the capital's Nong Chok district.

Other types of buses of Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) may additionally be used for commuters at the Futsal Worldcup, as previously discussed with Transport Ministry, according to Mr

Teerachon.

Three routes are planned to reach the Nong Chok stadium from Suvarnabhumi Airport, Hua Mak Sports Complex and Min Buri. This matter, however, will be on the discussion table again with the

ministry, the deputy governor said while being certain it will be supported by the government.

The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) was launched in 2010 to assist commuters travelling to offices and homes from Sathorn Road to Ratchapruek Road in the Tha Phra area in the Thonburi side of Bangkok. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-02-10

[vijer]

Excellent, the BTS and MRT are great examples of what this type of mass transit can do for a city. Expand it in all directions!

[anterian]

I wish with articles like this they would add a simple map. Not everyone knows where all these places are.

[IsaanUSA]

I wish with articles like this they would add a simple map. Not everyone knows where all these places are.

Lower left corner

http://www.thaitravelnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Bangkok_public_transport1.png

Edited February 10, 2012 by IsaanUSA

[KKvampire]

Excellent, the BTS and MRT are great examples of what this type of mass transit can do for a city. Expand it in all directions!

ummm really> I dont think so. It shows how a huge city is covered by a Small mass transit system= Mass traffic congestion

[whybother]

Excellent, the BTS and MRT are great examples of what this type of mass transit can do for a city. Expand it in all directions!

ummm really> I dont think so. It shows how a huge city is covered by a Small mass transit system= Mass traffic congestion

It shows what it CAN do. Certainly, more lines are needed, but what is already there does make a difference.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

[DP25]

Excellent, the BTS and MRT are great examples of what this type of mass transit can do for a city. Expand it in all directions!

ummm really> I dont think so. It shows how a huge city is covered by a Small mass transit system= Mass traffic congestion

It shows what it CAN do. Certainly, more lines are needed, but what is already there does make a difference.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

There is a lot more than just this Silom extension being built right now. Dashed lines are under construction, and there are estimates of completion further down the page. It'll take time but there is a big expansion underway.

http://www.urbanrail...ang/bangkok.htm

[tombkk]

Excellent, the BTS and MRT are great examples of what this type of mass transit can do for a city. Expand it in all directions!

ummm really> I dont think so. It shows how a huge city is covered by a Small mass transit system= Mass traffic congestion

The problem is that it was started far too late. 20 years of discussions about the Sky Train didn't help. Finally, the BTS was built as a light rail system, because that was faster to complete than the MRT subway system. The goal is now to expand the system (both BTS and MRT, and they have added BRT to speed it up) as quickly as possible to make it really useful, and that's exactly what the government is doing.

When you look at cities like Paris, London, Berlin, New York: How long did it take them to have their current heavy-duty urban rail networks in place?

[bkk_mike]

BTS skytrain is, I believe, technically a heavy rail system, not a light rail system.

Anyway, I still remember the traffic before the BTS opened, while they were building it, and had lanes closed for the construction... If you think the traffic is bad now, you haven't been in Bangkok long...

[tombkk]

BTS skytrain is, I believe, technically a heavy rail system, not a light rail system.

Anyway, I still remember the traffic before the BTS opened, while they were building it, and had lanes closed for the construction... If you think the traffic is bad now, you haven't been in Bangkok long...

The difference between a light and a heavy rail system is the capacity, so I was made to believe by an official of the Ministry of Transport, the same guy who told me that the BTS is a light rail system. Wikipedia says a light rail system is "An electric railway with a 'light volume' traffic capacity compared to heavy rail." Now, that's helpful. Anyway, the classification doesn't really matter as much as the speed in which they can build the extensions, IMHO.

The traffic before Skytrain, and when only the First Stage Expressway was in place... A friend of mine choose to ride from the airport to his preferred hotel on the river by helicopter. He was about 3 hours faster that way.

[Lakegeneve]

I wish with articles like this they would add a simple map. Not everyone knows where all these places are.

Updates and a summary on all lines are available in another TV thread, http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/406991-the-new-skytrain/ and you can visit it from time to time for updates. (This MCOT release posted is 6 weeks old news as the BMA announced before NYs that there would be a changed in the opening schedule of the Phetkasem/Bang Wah ext)

The thread includes links in both Thai and Eng if you wish to monitor the status of construction of any specific line.

Some of the timeframes for compeltion have now been extended by 6 months due to the floods last year eg (SRT Red Line, MRTA Purple LIne & MRTA Blue Line). An update summary will soon be forthcoming once timeframes are clearer.

I posted the latest Master Plan (2009) in post #9 on that thread, it will be change yet again a little once the current govt makes a few politically based changes.

If you have any queries post them in the other thread.

[Lakegeneve]

Excellent, the BTS and MRT are great examples of what this type of mass transit can do for a city. Expand it in all directions!

ummm really> I dont think so. It shows how a huge city is covered by a Small mass transit system= Mass traffic congestion

The problem is that it was started far too late. 20 years of discussions about the Sky Train didn't help. Finally, the BTS was built as a light rail system, because that was faster to complete than the MRT subway system. The goal is now to expand the system (both BTS and MRT, and they have added BRT to speed it up) as quickly as possible to make it really useful, and that's exactly what the government is doing.

BTS is NOT light rail, it uses exactly the same Siemans rolling stock as the MRT. Light rail would be considered to be an articulated tram style rolling stock or a small size metro rolling stock. I think there is some confusion in your suggested comparison. The main difference between construction of the BTS lines and the MRT is obviously that it is quicker to construct an elevated metro line than an underground one.

Stating "they" or "the government" is also not very helpful as most of the delays to extensions and new lines arise from having multiple govt ministries or agencies (eg. MOT, OTP, BMA, MRTA, SRT), private companies (BTSC & BMCL) and political agendas (ie. when Taksin wanted to nationalise the BTSC thus delaying exts until BMA started to fund them) all making the whole process a mess. "They" means different things depending on the specific line you are discussing. For example, both OTP in MOT and the BMA have two different plans for future BRT lines.

A centralised intergovernmental agency is required to plan, operate and manage all mass transit in Bangkok without private operators and using a common ticketing platform.

The constant dysfunctional policy process, along with competing agendas and corrupt pollies wanting to line their pockets has meant that mass transit implementation in Bangkok has been a dogs breakfast. The MRT underground line ext was originally meant to be completed by 2008/9 - we are only starting construction late 2011. The Mo Chit BTS ext was meant to be done by 2006 - still not even tendered. Taksin went to the 2005 election promising to complete all 10 lines then planned by 2008/09 - of course nothing happened in the 18 months prior to the coup.

When you look at cities like Paris, London, Berlin, New York: How long did it take them to have their current heavy-duty urban rail networks in place?

This is a very pertinent point as these cities have taken decades to build and expand their networks. However, we should also look to Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and even New Dehli all of which built their metros in the last 2-3 decades - Dehli in the last 10 years.

Leaving aside the 2 city states and the autocratic nature of Chinese construction, Dehli shows that a city with similar issues to Bangkok - and a similar political and bureaucratic culture - can build a decent metro network in a short space of time. Most of the current 12 line plans will take until 2029 to build and that is without delays.

[tombkk]

Lakegeneve, thanks for the input. Actually, my info was from OTP but you have pointed out that the government organisations disagree.

I do agree that one overall agency is necessary.

[RAZZELL]

I wish with articles like this they would add a simple map. Not everyone knows where all these places are.

Updates and a summary on all lines are available in another TV thread, http://www.thaivisa....e-new-skytrain/ and you can visit it from time to time for updates. (This MCOT release posted is 6 weeks old news as the BMA announced before NYs that there would be a changed in the opening schedule of the Phetkasem/Bang Wah ext)

The thread includes links in both Thai and Eng if you wish to monitor the status of construction of any specific line.

Some of the timeframes for compeltion have now been extended by 6 months due to the floods last year eg (SRT Red Line, MRTA Purple LIne & MRTA Blue Line). An update summary will soon be forthcoming once timeframes are clearer.

I posted the latest Master Plan (2009) in post #9 on that thread, it will be change yet again a little once the current govt makes a few politically based changes.

If you have any queries post them in the other thread.

Any link to find a bigger version of that map?

RAZZ

Edited February 14, 2012 by RAZZELL

[Lakegeneve]

Any link to find a bigger version of that map?

RAZZ

I thought that there was but it is a dead link now. I'll keep looking......