Makkasan/MRT Walkway

[dddave]

Last night, for the first time in a long time, I used the Rail Link to get to Makkasan intending to take the notably unpleasant walk over broken sidewalks and railroad tracks to the Petchabury MRT Station.

I was truly shocked when I exited Makkasan and found a well marked, newly constructed, overhead pedestrian walkway leading to the MRT, serviced by escalators no less!

When did this happen ?

[Crossy]

Good innit?

Opened in August http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/369458-airport-rail-link-again-sorry/?p=6696355 been a year in construction.

[dddave]

Good innit?

Opened in August http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/369458-airport-rail-link-again-sorry/?p=6696355 been a year in construction.

Don't know how I missed it....must have been sleeping .

[WhizBang]

I saw the construction of the walkway and watched it's progress, last year, I think.

The $64 question is, why was that walkway not built when the station was built?

[dddave]

It takes time and a lot of money to build infrastructure like that around public transportation. When I first came here in 2002, there were very few walkways servicing the BTS, now they are everywhere. Often business's share the costs of building them so it takes a while for development around the stations to get established.

Considering the Rail Link is less than 5 years old, I think it doing pretty well.

BTW, I was surprised as well to see that they are using some of the airline seated Express Line cars on the City Line now at peak hours. Makes sense as Express Line ridership has been low.

[hanno]

I saw the construction of the walkway and watched it's progress, last year, I think.

The $64 question is, why was that walkway not built when the station was built?

True, but it is there now and actually makes using the airport express a viable option.

[Lakegeneve]

I saw the construction of the walkway and watched it's progress, last year, I think.

The $64 question is, why was that walkway not built when the station was built?

Short answer is that there is an absence of integrated planning in Bangkok and Thailand. Pedestrian links tend to be an afterthought....

If you read through that ARL thread that Crossy link you'll see that I posted that the MRT to BT link at Asoke did not open until 1 year after the MRT opened and the link from the MRT to BT at Silom didn't open until 2 years later.

See a pattern?

BTS to MRT at Asoke: 1 year after MRT opens,

BTS to MRT ar Silom: 2 years after MRT opens,

ARL to MRT : 3 years after ARL opens....

To be fair, there was a problem as the link was originally intended to be underground but there is a major oil pipeline running underground along the eastern railway line which couldn't be moved so the link had to be redesigned. It still would have taken at least 2 years though........

Thankfully, the next major one between the Purple Line and SRT Light Red LIne at Bang Bon has already been built!