MRT
MRT tunnel intact despite road collapse in Chinatown
KANATHIT SRIHIRUNDEJ
THE NATION



BANGKOK: -- THE UNDERGROUND tunnel for the MRT's Blue Line extension remains intact even though a part of the road collapsed in Bangkok's Chinatown area, Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt said yesterday.

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route.

"The crater was about 25 centimetres deep initially, but I ordered workers to dig deeper to find out what caused the collapse," construction supervisor Kamol Mahaphon said.

After digging further, his team found that huge water leaks had weakened the area.

"Hence, we have contacted relevant officials, including the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority," Kamol said.
Meanwhile, Chadchart said the MRT tunnel, which is still being constructed, is about 25 metres deep and remains intact. "The tunnel has not been damaged in any way," he reiterated.

Pisitchanon Niwattanakul, a member of the Leng Noei Yi Temple's board, said the road-surface collapse did not affect the monastery.

"The temple is alright with the construction of the MRT extension because it is beneficial to the public," he said.


-- The Nation 2013-09-26

God forbid a decent size earthquake ever hits Bangkok.

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route.

What would it look like if it was "A lot of the road surface" that had subsided." Not too bad at talking it down.

"Most of the road surface had subsided" would probably mean that China had been sucked down the hole as well... Crazy Stuff indeed.

God forbid a decent size earthquake ever hits Bangkok.

Considering that BKK is built on a swamp I don't see how it's gonna do much damage. ;-)

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route.

What would it look like if it was "A lot of the road surface" that had subsided." Not too bad at talking it down.

"Most of the road surface had subsided" would probably mean that China had been sucked down the hole as well... Crazy Stuff indeed.

B R I L L I A N T , .. is that a rough translation or the exact wording ? no wonder English is a problem to them !

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route.

What would it look like if it was "A lot of the road surface" that had subsided." Not too bad at talking it down.

"Most of the road surface had subsided" would probably mean that China had been sucked down the hole as well... Crazy Stuff indeed.

Not sure about your basic reading skills. The article clearly states: "The crater was about 25 centimetres deep initially, but I ordered workers to dig deeper to find out what caused the collapse, construction supervisor Kamol Mahaphon said."

And, the subsidence started at 2am.. Clearly the picture is made during the day after the initial subsidence and they've been digging around like crazy to find the cause of it.

That by itself might be remarkable: Instead of just filling it up a bit, they actually thought of finding the cause first.

The problem was most likely created after installation of the cheap rigid type water pipe by compacting after all the back fill had gone in, rather than before the pipe installation.

In hindsight, a flexible HDPE pipe would have been a better choice for that purpose. However, this was most likely attributed to tight budget restraints at time which is not unusual for Thailand.

Now the truth of the ugly short- cutting has been unearthed so to speak. Therefore, somewhere out there, there is civil works contractor to blame.

God forbid a decent size earthquake ever hits Bangkok.

Considering that BKK is built on a swamp I don't see how it's gonna do much damage. ;-)

In fact buildings built on swampy and or sandy substraits are prone to more damage than those built on higher kpa land.

Another High Sco family buying an Engineering Degree for the son?

Edited September 26, 201312 yr by Calimotty

Will they leave that hole there for a few years?

God forbid a decent size earthquake ever hits Bangkok.

The ground would likely liquesce and gobble up the buildings. Lucky for Bkk there are no major faults and those that are in the region are not very sticky.

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route.

What would it look like if it was "A lot of the road surface" that had subsided." Not too bad at talking it down.

"Most of the road surface had subsided" would probably mean that China had been sucked down the hole as well... Crazy Stuff indeed.

Not sure about your basic reading skills. The article clearly states: "The crater was about 25 centimetres deep initially, but I ordered workers to dig deeper to find out what caused the collapse, construction supervisor Kamol Mahaphon said."

And, the subsidence started at 2am.. Clearly the picture is made during the day after the initial subsidence and they've been digging around like crazy to find the cause of it.

That by itself might be remarkable: Instead of just filling it up a bit, they actually thought of finding the cause first.

which of course is a quite remarkable attitude for a Thai, knowing the mai pen rai attitude

Exactly - this is actually a 'good news' story - instead of chucking some rubble in the hole and slapping on some tarmac (as in India) the engineers did a proper job. Water-created sinkholes (which this would appear to have been on the way to becoming) are not unique to Thailand. The floods last year may also have had some effect. There may be more of this to come unfortunately.

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route.

What would it look like if it was "A lot of the road surface" that had subsided." Not too bad at talking it down.

"Most of the road surface had subsided" would probably mean that China had been sucked down the hole as well... Crazy Stuff indeed.

Not sure about your basic reading skills. The article clearly states: "The crater was about 25 centimetres deep initially, but I ordered workers to dig deeper to find out what caused the collapse, construction supervisor Kamol Mahaphon said."

And, the subsidence started at 2am.. Clearly the picture is made during the day after the initial subsidence and they've been digging around like crazy to find the cause of it.

That by itself might be remarkable: Instead of just filling it up a bit, they actually thought of finding the cause first.

which of course is a quite remarkable attitude for a Thai, knowing the mai pen rai attitude

So now the safest way to walk around BKK is with a saftey harness on.

Will they leave that hole there for a few years?

May be so. I thought a suitable title for the picture would be "Men at Work - Thai style' Doesn't seem to be a lot of activity. Maybe a committee is being formed to decide what happens next.

I thought that South Pattaya Road was bad but this is off the scale.

God forbid a decent size earthquake ever hits Bangkok.

Just as in California where you can certainly build a building to earthquake standards, and where the subway trains safely go under the San Francisco Bay, you build safety into the structures here as well. Engineering has advanced past bricks & stones. However, I do not even remember reading about Thailand being even close to being a major earthquake area. No need to start rumors that the sky is falling. You will survive.

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route.

What would it look like if it was "A lot of the road surface" that had subsided." Not too bad at talking it down.

"Most of the road surface had subsided" would probably mean that China had been sucked down the hole as well... Crazy Stuff indeed.

Not sure about your basic reading skills. The article clearly states: "The crater was about 25 centimetres deep initially, but I ordered workers to dig deeper to find out what caused the collapse, construction supervisor Kamol Mahaphon said."

And, the subsidence started at 2am.. Clearly the picture is made during the day after the initial subsidence and they've been digging around like crazy to find the cause of it.

That by itself might be remarkable: Instead of just filling it up a bit, they actually thought of finding the cause first.

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route.

What would it look like if it was "A lot of the road surface" that had subsided." Not too bad at talking it down.

"Most of the road surface had subsided" would probably mean that China had been sucked down the hole as well... Crazy Stuff indeed.

Not sure about your basic reading skills. The article clearly states: "The crater was about 25 centimetres deep initially, but I ordered workers to dig deeper to find out what caused the collapse, construction supervisor Kamol Mahaphon said."

And, the subsidence started at 2am.. Clearly the picture is made during the day after the initial subsidence and they've been digging around like crazy to find the cause of it.

That by itself might be remarkable: Instead of just filling it up a bit, they actually thought of finding the cause first.

Basic reading skills are fine....thanks for the concern.....but most of you all bitch on this forum about how lazy the Thais are.....how could they have gone from 25 cm, to a hole of that size the next day????? I believe them.....Do you?????

I'm no expert on these matters, but shouldn't there be some water flow monitoring devices built into the system? Why must land subsidence be the indicator of a 'huge water leak' in such a large underground pipe? In other countries this is called 'management by crisis'.

God forbid a decent size earthquake ever hits Bangkok.

How about a decent sized earthquake hitting any where in the world.

• Secret stash for the floodwaters?

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route.

What would it look like if it was "A lot of the road surface" that had subsided." Not too bad at talking it down.

"Most of the road surface had subsided" would probably mean that China had been sucked down the hole as well... Crazy Stuff indeed.

As reported the crater was initially 25 cm (.82ft) deep.Hardly a decent mud puddle. MTI the dug it up t find the cause. Hence broken rebarb and a big ass hole ( water leaks under pavemet are no easy to find). Construction for the tunnel probably weakened an old water line they need now to repair now. Shit happens

.Cudo's to construction supervisor Kamol Mahaphon for a fast and prorper response in initiating the investigation and finding the problem so further damage by this sink hole is averted and won't affect the Temple or adjacent buildings.

Do you really read the articles in Playboy or just look at the pictures?

Stop the hate and undue critisism people . It erases your voice for future "Real" problems with the press and Government.. As this was not a pre arranged police photo op the press probably was not alerted at 2am or may have found the real crator

photographically un- impressive

They have a story you may have heard of .

' The Boy who Cried Wolf" that correctly explains the consiquences of Inaccurate convience of thought to falsey lead

Some things are the same all over the world.

1 guy in the hole working....25 guys standing watching.

... and 2 pointing (well, this is Thailand).

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route.

What would it look like if it was "A lot of the road surface" that had subsided." Not too bad at talking it down.

"Most of the road surface had subsided" would probably mean that China had been sucked down the hole as well... Crazy Stuff indeed.

Not sure about your basic reading skills. The article clearly states: "The crater was about 25 centimetres deep initially, but I ordered workers to dig deeper to find out what caused the collapse, construction supervisor Kamol Mahaphon said."

And, the subsidence started at 2am.. Clearly the picture is made during the day after the initial subsidence and they've been digging around like crazy to find the cause of it.

That by itself might be remarkable: Instead of just filling it up a bit, they actually thought of finding the cause first.

I do not believe a word of Any of these reports, this is Thailand.

A big hole? How fortuitous!

Where's that flood, now?