New Bangkok Subway System Open

[Indo-Siam]

Walking past yesterday, I was surprised to see the Asoke/Sukhumvit subway station open and operational. I took the escalator down, and - sure enough - the system was open. I had no need to go anywhere, so I didn't ride - but I was interested to see how it had opened with virtually no fanfare.

One good point - it is now much easier to cross Asoke Road on foot - by just going under it.

Evidently, you can ride at no charge for some number of weeks, as they work the bugs out.

Indo-Siam

[Guest chingy]

its gonna be a bumps heaven, AC and all, so now can we take down the skytrain so i can actually see the building, and blue sky. i hate that skytrain, built by moron

[Up2U]

With the water table being at ground level in much of Bangkok, I am amazed that the thing was built. That was the reason for the Skytrain. (Same idea in Kuala Lumpur). Also the reason so much telephone and power line distribution is above ground, although the earthquake rating also makes above-ground services easier to design.

In HK one of my former employers is still happily replacing corroded reinforcement in the MTRC. (We started in 1990 - but can only work for four hours each night, when trains stop running).

Good luck to the operator, any way to reduce road congestion is a step forward.

[..::LegalAlien::..]

With the water table being at ground level in much of Bangkok

Years ago I heard this aswell, and was told that no subway could EVER be built... Interestingly enough, it was around the time that work on the Sky Train began - perhaps another example of misinformation to the benefit of the Sky Train project.

It will be fascinating to see if the "Subway Trains" end up "Submarines"

[Koh_Falang]

Correct me if im wrong guys but i would of thought that if the Thai government had the dosh to make a freeway for a good couple of kms that is 20 m above the ground then i dont think it would be too much of a problem for them to make a water tight tunnel system to run a subway through.

There seems to be great effort being put into reducing Bangkoks notorious traffic and I give them more credit then the rest of you... There are many a city in the world that has a subway that is under water.

Anyone else for comments??

[phazey]

I don't know if the water-table is really an issue (is'nt the channel-tunnel under the water table? )

My missus is certainly fearful about traveling on it, we'll see when i push her down there mid may.

./P

ps: has anyone got an accurate labled map of the routes the subway will take, i just read something about planned expansions, and it seems it will end up right on my doorstep (Bang Kapi)

[..::LegalAlien::..]

I give them more credit then the rest of you...

No question... Credit where credits due.

I just seem to remember that when the idea was initially raised it was rejected due to water-table issues aswell as the small matter of subsidence. Of course, since then technology has undoubtably got better and the project became feasible.

[Up2U]

Sure, the project is feasible, whatever the level of the water table. You just have too throw money at it. Whether it is financially viable is a different question.

Tunneling under the channel with TBMs in a rock medium is very much easier than tunneling or trenching through the silty muck that comprises much of Bangkok's upper strata. Same was with HK - open cuts where possible, tunneling elsewhere, but HK is basically a rock base.

Jubilee line in London was difficult - and late - and cost 250% of projected initial budget.

If this is to be a monument to the present leadership, then it may well succeed. But if it is supposed to return a profit within xx years, then look at the Hopewell project, as an example of pulling the plug half-way through.

Bang Kapi is on the projected routing, eventually Suvarnabhumi will also be served - but not in my working life.

[Indo-Siam]

Well, I revisited the Asoke/Sukhumvit station his morning. It turns out that thev trains are not yet running. They just have the stations open for inspection. Quite spacious. I spoke to a "greeter" who nindicated that trains will start running around 13 April, with the official opening on Queen's Birthday on 12 August.

So far, the ticket selling machines are not yet installed. According to my host, for the first few months, tickets will only be available by writing in to the MRT - but they will be free. Unlikethe BTS, where tickets are inserted into a slot, for the "rot fai dai din" the tickets will be magnetic cards that just get swiped over a flat plate at the front of the turnstyle.

As for all the comments about subways built under water tables, that applies to Singapore, Hong Kong, and various other places in Asia - and I understand that (just like the various regional mega-airports), the same teams pretty much built all the systems in the region - the teams arecomposed of guys who spend entire careers shifting from project to project.

Indo-Siam

[Up2U]

........

......... Unlikethe BTS, where tickets are inserted into a slot, for the "rot fai dai din" the tickets will be magnetic cards that just get swiped over a flat plate at the front of the turnstyle.

As for all the comments about subways built under water tables, that applies to Singapore, Hong Kong, and various other places in Asia - and I understand that (just like the various regional mega-airports), the same teams pretty much built all the systems in the region - the teams arecomposed of guys who spend entire careers shifting from project to project.

Indo-Siam

Credit-card thingies are standard in most subways now - buy a HK $ 100 card and you get about 110 dollars-worth of travel (different values give different discounts). Also these cards can be used as debit cards in many shops and other outlets in HK.

Gammon (HK, was part of Trafalgar House, later Kvaerner, now Skanska) and others do carry out a lot of the work. The plant for rock tunnel work is very expensive, not many firms will invest the money, 'cos there is the operating and maintenance expertise to find as well.

But this is a good way to see the world - work for two or three years in one country, then move on to a new project. I've been at it for thirty years now, and have no intention of finishing yet (neither has my mortgage-holder, or my pension-provider!).

Airports are easier - only specialists like the baggage handling people are in high demand. Everyone else can be a pretty basic civil-engineering or building based tradesman. Plenty of concrete and piling, but little specialised skills needed.