Decision Soon on Future of BTS Saphan Taksin

[snoop1130]

Decision Soon on Future of BTS Saphan Taksin
By Sasiwan Mokkhasen
Staff Reporter


The platform of BTS Saphan Taksin in 2004 photo. Photo: Tom Page / Flickr

BANGKOK — A moving walkway to whisk commuters nearly a kilometer from BTS Surasak to the Chao Phraya River is one option in a long-delayed plan to rebuild or remove the 16-year-old “temporary” Skytrain station located at Saphan Taksin.

Whether the Silom Line remains a one-way service over the river or is upgraded to a more efficient double-track line, the station located above the Sathorn Pier would need to be demolished and extended for one meter on both sides, according to city officials who hope to decide the station’s future by the end of this month following years of prolonged deliberation.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration recently discussed options for rebuilding the station, Deputy Bangkok Gov. Amorn Kitchawengkul said, which it hopes to soon complete and forward to transportation officials and relevant agencies.

Two options were floated by officials last year: an expensive rebuild of the station with two tracks or closing the station, leaving commuters with the option of using the nearby BTS Surasak.

Were a second track added, the bridge would need to be widened by 80 centimeters on each side – not an inexpensive proposition.

Full Story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1449050585

-- Khaosod English 2015-12-02

[jpinx]

Do the proposals include an option to leave the bridge single track with signal controls, and run 2 tracks as far as the station? It's a very popular place because of the connections to ferries etc.

[oztaurus]

"Two options were floated by officials last year: an expensive rebuild of the station with two tracks or closing the station, leaving commuters with the option of using the nearby BTS Surasak.

Were a second track added, the bridge would need to be widened by 80 centimeters on each side – not an inexpensive proposition."

Obviously more tea money to be made in the high-speed walkway

[NoBrainer]

This is a very busy station. Moving all of that traffic to another quite busy station is a very poor solution.

Thailand needs to start thinking about the future. Passenger traffic is only going to grow over time. The BTS in general is

overcrowded quite often with 2 to 3 train waits on a daily basis at some stations. As they expand the system with new

lines, that traffic will continue to increase.

The only proper long term solution is to replace the station with the dual track setup, and increase the size as required.

Cost should not really be a major factor, as it will be used for many years into the future.

[mike324]

BTS platforms are poorly designed they are all too small, platforms are too narrow to accommodate more passengers in the future. Platforms are something like 2 meters wide only. They should have stairways beside moving escalators to facilitate the movement of passengers up and down the platform.

Siam station is always crowded and the bottle neck seems to be the elevators, They just started having signs last year telling people to stand on the right and walk on the left, yet nobody ever walks even during rush hour time. I think they need a staff to tell people to walk on the left to make it a habit for Thais. There are only one escalator on each side going up and down.

The complete flow of traffic at Siam Station is horrible, many times people on the 3rd floor platform goes to change trains on the 2nd floor, they need to make a left or right turn after the get off at the 2nd floor, they cut right in front of people who walk straight to get to the 1st floor, this is a dangerous situation when escalators are full and people stop right in front of the escalators as it moves.

Moving walkway to Surasak station from saphan Taksin is plain silly. They just need to rebuild as Sapahan Taksin is a transfer hub and it will only get busier as more developments along the river are built, such as numerous new water front apartments, the expansion of Asiatique, and new Takashimaya Mall being built.

[Srikcir]

Why can't they just double deck the Saphan Taksin station without changes in the bridge crossing?

I don't think enough innovation has been considered in the options.

[Filer]

There seems to be some confusion in the press reports and in postings on this site about the Silom line crossing at Saphan Taksin.

Contrary to what has been written here and there, the river crossing is double track. The rail bridge, which was built as a separate span in between the two earlier parallel road spans (thus making three parallel spans across the river) was built wide enough for double track and is indeed double track. The rail bridge does not need to be widened.

See photo which shows the rail track, clearly double, crossing the river from west end of the Saphan Taksin station platform.

The problem is that Saphan Taksin station platforms could not be built out on each side of the double track (as BTS stations usually are), since the track at the point is barely above the level of the roadbridge roadways on each sideand there simply isn't room.

The Saphan Taksin single platform was built by sacrificing the space of one of the two tracks for about 250 metres. In that place there is thus one track and one platform occupying the space of the other track. Trains may have to wait briefly on either side of the station before they can pass through the single-track bottleneck alongside the sole platform. This is the problem that BTS wants to remedy, since it blocks high-frequency two-way service along this busy stretch which links the suburbs across the river to the downtown areas.. One poster has correctly pointed out that one solution is to build up, with one track/platform ramped up on top of the other, Siam station style. The ideal solution, possibly, although costly, would be simply to raise the whole track level at Saphan Taksin high enough to allow the standard type of station to be built out over the roadway on each side.

[Searat7]

One other alternative would be to add a fifth car to BTS trains....this would reduce overcrowding and increase capacity. Eliminating Saphan Taksin station completely should not be considered