Pink And Yellow Monorail Lines Given 2020 Completion

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Pink And Yellow Monorail Lines Given 2020 Completion

By Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter -

 

Rendered image of the Pink Line monorail. Photo: Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand

 

BANGKOK — Two more commuter rail extensions in the capital were given ambitious completion dates after the announcement Tuesday of a firm to build them.

 

BSR Joint Venture – consisting of BTS Group, Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction PCL and Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding PCL – won the 105 billion baht contract to build the Yellow and Pink lines. Together, they will build two suburban monorail lines in a public-private partnership with the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, or MRTA.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/transpo/2016/12/07/pink-yellow-monorail-lines-given-2020-completion/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2016-12-07

[Crossy]

Even a monorail in three years ...

 

[JoePai]

No problem, can do in half the usual time - only 1 rail    

[blackcab]

How come there are different types of rails and diffetent types of trains?

 

Would it not make more sense to choose a good design and have lots of the same?

 

Spare parts, maintenance and discount for bulk, etc?

[fruitman]

19 minutes ago, blackcab said:

How come there are different types of rails and diffetent types of trains?

 

Would it not make more sense to choose a good design and have lots of the same?

 

Spare parts, maintenance and discount for bulk, etc?

 

Yes and the trains could replace eachother if one is out of order. 

 

[Srikcir]

Just curious.

If the monorail breaks down enroute, seems passengers are stuck inside without a means to make an emergency exit.

 

At the US Disney World monorail : exit by climbing up through a roof hatch to the top of the train, then proceed to walk along the car tops and climb down to the train beam and exit by walking along the narrow monorail beam.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World_Monorail_System#Emergency_evacuation

 

 

[Estrada]

13 hours ago, blackcab said:

How come there are different types of rails and diffetent types of trains?

 

Would it not make more sense to choose a good design and have lots of the same?

 

Spare parts, maintenance and discount for bulk, etc?

The reason of course is the cost of construction vs projected passenger numbers. There will still be lots of the same, since there will be yellow line, gold line, pink line, grey line, silver line and brown line mono rails, to name a few. These will replace major bus routes such as the 145 Samrong to Morchit by the Yellow Line. The beauty is not only speed of transportation, but that the monorail trains are elevated above the flood waters that the buses have a hard time running in.

[Lakegeneve]

16 hours ago, blackcab said:

How come there are different types of rails and diffetent types of trains?

 

Would it not make more sense to choose a good design and have lots of the same?

 

Spare parts, maintenance and discount for bulk, etc?

Both the Pink and Yellow Monorails lines were originally planned to be heavy rail lines ie. the same as the MRT. The Yellow Line was also originally meant to be an underground line.

 

Back in 2009/10 due to concerted lobbying primarily by a Malaysian monorail company the Pink Line was changed to a monorail due to construction cost issues. (The line was originally planned to start construction in 2010 then a late 2013 start then a mid 2014 start etc....you get the picture). However, the proposed construction costs in 2014 for the monorail had already exceeded the previous heavy rail budget.

 

Monorails are cheaper to build but often have maintenance issues. I'm generally not a fan of them unless it is for short inter-connectivity which both the Makkasan and Bang Sue lines would be, or the Chula Uni line could've been. The new Gold line is an example if it gets built. We've only really seen in China where a long metro style length monorail can work. The pink line will be the 2nd or 3rd longest monorail in the world once built.

 

I've railed (yes intended) against both the Pink and Yellow monorail lines as they should be heavy rail. There will be significant problems with both lines after a few years especially due to overcrowding from very early on and expect operational breakdowns and delays.

 

You can view a video of the yellow line route and previous draft design, plus a blurb, on this thread at post #329 & post#340, page 14;

 

[Lakegeneve]

3 hours ago, Estrada said:

The reason of course is the cost of construction vs projected passenger numbers. There will still be lots of the same, since there will be yellow line, gold line, pink line, grey line, silver line and brown line mono rails, to name a few. These will replace major bus routes such as the 145 Samrong to Morchit by the Yellow Line. The beauty is not only speed of transportation, but that the monorail trains are elevated above the flood waters that the buses have a hard time running in.

Actually, only the cost issue is relevant in what you have suggested.

 

There is currently no guarantee that any of the proposed monorail lines planned to be built will use the same rolling stock and thus the have the same configuration. It is only true for the Pink and Yellow lines.

 

In fact, it took the MRTA nearly 18 months to realise that they needed to select the rolling stock first for the Pink and Yellow lines prior to finalising the design. Rolling stock dictates track and station design with monorails. Hence the previous lobbying to convert lines from heavy rail to monorail.

 

The proposed Brown line possibly could be the same configuration as it will be an MRTA project but it is doubtful that the Grey line would be being a BMA project. I highly doubt that the proposed Gold line will be if it proceeds as it is completely different in scope. Note that only the Grey line has advanced at this stage out of the others. 

 

Being elevated has no compulsion meaning that it must be a monorail as heavy rail can be elevated as well as the BTS and MRT Blue line extension patently show. Both lines really should be reverted to a heavy rail given the high density routes and key interchanges that they will provide. Expect significant overcrowding issues almost from day one ........which will most likely be 2021/2.

[Lakegeneve]

Here is a quick summary of concerns that I previously posted for what it is worth.....

 

Quote

 

The basis of changing the Pink Line from a heavy rail to a monorail line back in 2011 was price. However, the current cost of the line - albeit with 6 new stations - is actually higher than the estimated cost back then. At the time the 34.5km Pink line would have been the worlds longest monorail line. However, Chongqings Line 3 has that honour at just under 40km, http://urbanrail.net/as/cn/chon/chongqing.htm. It is unique has it is essentially a heavy rail, monorail line. It is very rare to have monorail lines that are longer than 10 or even 15kms, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monorail_systems

Similarly, the Yellow Line was changed last year from an half underground 7 elevated heavy rail to a fully elevated light rail (monorail) on the same basis. One of the other stated reasons is that monorails are more suitable for elevated lines following main roads where there are tighter turning curves. There are still many residents along the Yellow Line protesting the change. Another reason is that monorail has less of a footprint, ie. structures and stations are smaller.

In reality, what has been taking place over a few years is that decision makers have been intensely lobbied by a couple of monorail firms (especially one south of the border) which has progressively resulted in lines being changed from heavy rail to monorail. Aside from these two lines 3 other monorail lines are planned, Brown, Grey & Light Blue line. Somehow, we went from an all heavy rail network plan to what will be end up being 60% heavy rail and 40% monorail.

My main concern is that monorails will not provide the capacity that BKK needs in the future. It is light rail compared to heavy rail and thus has a greater limitation. I can almost guarantee that both the Pink and Yellow lines will have capacity problems in the first year of operations given the key transport corridors of the lines. The crush that took many years to eventuate on the BTS and MRT will most likely be there from day one. It should be noted that the MRT is stating that a 3-4 car train with high frequency on the Pink Line will be able to move 30k pax an hour which is a heavy rail class of pax/hr.

The other concerns relate to increased maintenance and reliability issues compared with heavy rail. Much will depend on the supplier and system chosen. In a network where you already have 3 different systems BTS, MRT & SRT (commuter lines) and many potential operators, why increase the mix of network variables and reduce potential inter-connectivity in the future? Better to have standardisation of the lines in respect of line gauge, rolling stock and systems (E&S). It is the same criticism that I've expressed about the SRT narrow gauge commuter lines.

Crossy is correct. The Tokyo monorail is great, I've previously used it. Chongqing also shows that heavy monorail in a difficult terrain can be done. However, Bangkok is taking a risk in building a monorail network with many long lines in a very large, densely populated city. Pax demands will only increase in the future. Having regard to all of the dysfunction and lack of integration which underpins building BKKs network, this is not really the city to be a test case for a bunch of long monorail lines.

We'll just have to wait and see if my concerns are valid or not.

 

post #340, 23 Sept 2014 

 

[khunken]

1 hour ago, Lakegeneve said:

Here is a quick summary of concerns that I previously posted for what it is worth.....

 

post #340, 23 Sept 2014 

 

Thanks for the details.

One thing I don't understand is how do trains going from A to B return back to B again? If the single line is both ways (A to B & B to A), that means that only one train can be on the whole line at any one time. If the monorail is built as a loop, that solves the problem, but is it? Or are there stages on the line where one train can be directed to a second side line while a train going in the opposite direction can pass? (Just like what happens on the main railway which has only one line most of the way).

[Lakegeneve]

16 minutes ago, khunken said:

Thanks for the details.

One thing I don't understand is how do trains going from A to B return back to B again? If the single line is both ways (A to B & B to A), that means that only one train can be on the whole line at any one time. If the monorail is built as a loop, that solves the problem, but is it? Or are there stages on the line where one train can be directed to a second side line while a train going in the opposite direction can pass? (Just like what happens on the main railway which has only one line most of the way).

You can take a look at that video for the Yellow line in the linked thread to get a better idea but to answer your query it is a single line for each direction. At the terminus or end of the line there is a moveable section of the track (switch) so that the monorail rolling stock can transfer to the other line for the return journey. The principle if really no different to a normal train.

 

This KL monorail pic should give you the idea, 

http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/KLspecial13.html

 

The monorail society has a brief technical page on the different types of monorails, http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/TPindex.html

Edited December 8, 2016 by Lakegeneve

[khunken]

8 minutes ago, Lakegeneve said:

You can take a look at that video for the Yellow line in the linked thread to get a better idea but to answer your query it is a single line for each direction. At the terminus or end of the line there is a moveable section of the track (switch) so that the monorail rolling stock can transfer to the other line for the return journey. The principle if really no different to a normal train.

 

This KL monorail pic should give you the idea, 

http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/KLspecial13.html

 

The monorail society has a brief technical page on the different types of monorails, http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/TPindex.html

Thanks a lot for the reply.

 

I see it now - it's a dual monorail line.