BTS will extend sky train service from Bearing to Samrong for free from April 3

[webfact]

BTS will extend sky train service from Bearing to Samrong for free from April 3

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok Rapid Transit Authority (BTS) will open sky train service from Bearing station to Samrong station on April 3.

 

The opening of the service to extended station at Samrong station from Bearing is part of the BTS’s Green Line South route from Bearing to Samut Prakarn.

 

Passengers on the route will be allowed to enjoy free ride to the extended station through the month of April.

 

According to Samut Prakarn provincial governor Chartchai Uthaiphand, he was formally informed by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Traffic and Transport Department that the BTS will extend the sky train service on its Green Line South route by another station after construction and renovation of the extended line to the station was completed.

 

He said the service will extend from Bearing station to Samrong.

 

The opening ceremony from 08.00 – 11.00 am will be held and presided over by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the governor said.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/bts-wiil-extend-sky-train-service-bearing-samrong-free-april-3/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-03-31

 

[whoareyou]

Sky train is fantastic. If it wasn't there I would leave bangkok in a heart beat

[tonray]

6 minutes ago, whoareyou said:

Sky train is fantastic. If it wasn't there I would leave bangkok in a heart beat

 

They approved the plans for a Skytrain throughout Kohn Kaen in 2016. My expectation is that in 5 years that will hopefully be complete and another nice city will start to come alive. 

[rheinwiese]

And after 1 month of free rides the fares beyond Onnut will increase from 10 to 15 Baht. 

[dddave]

Nice for people in Samut Phrakhan but for those downline, unless the BTS puts on a 5th car, trains will be packed and people will be left standing on the platform.

[Lakegeneve]

5 hours ago, tonray said:

 

They approved the plans for a Skytrain throughout Kohn Kaen in 2016. My expectation is that in 5 years that will hopefully be complete and another nice city will start to come alive. 

Except that this is a slightly misleading...... the 5 years is about right though!

 

It is a LRT (light rail) project with 16 stops NOT a heavy rail and most of it will be built at grade level not elevated. Only a portion of the central section will be elevated.

 

Plans for a BRT in KK started 5 years ago will a proposal for 5 lines. (A member of TV even work on the feasibility study so he could add much more detailed info...)

 

However, the proposed first BRT line (the N-S Red Line) morphed into a LRT line about 18 months ago if my memory serves me correctly. Rightly so in my view. (Though KK City Hall thinks that it will make KK a silicon valey (sic) of the NE and attract Dinosaurs to the city!)

 

More info here for the Thai readers, https://www.facebook.com/KhonKaenCity.Projects/posts/1209002302455401

 

 

A presentation of the project and route;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2017 by Lakegeneve

[natway09]

Well said DDave.

You cannot just keep extending the line as even now I am waiting 3 trains sometimes as full after 6 stations

Thai logic 

[asanee]

Baring is in a kind of dead end-the 1 stop extension will not get many really new customers-those that board at Baring now leave their bus in Samrong-or live there and took the bus to Baring only.

[tigermoth]

22 hours ago, dddave said:

Nice for people in Samut Phrakhan but for those downline, unless the BTS puts on a 5th car, trains will be packed and people will be left standing on the platform.

This is already the case on the present Bearing line. Usually can't get on board during peak hours and often when heading from town towards Bearing this applies up to 10pm. How do they propose to handle the traffic when the line opens to Samut Prakan. One extra carriage will certainly not suffice.

[dddave]

2 hours ago, tigermoth said:

One extra carriage will certainly not suffice.

Unfortunately, five car trains are the maximum the system can accommodate, there is not enough platform for any more cars than that.

The BTS is a victim of it's own unexpected success as usage is way beyond initial planning expectations. Train capacity is not the only big problem. Ticket buying and entrygate congestion at peak times, especially at junction station's like Siam and Asok has become a nightmare. The BTS may well need to completely rebuild it's  central Bangkok stations.  Unfortunately, re-investment is not their strongpoint...even the elevator project launched last year seems to have come to a standstill at many stations.

[whoareyou]

Unfortunately, five car trains are the maximum the system can accommodate, there is not enough platform for any more cars than that.
The BTS is a victim of it's own unexpected success as usage is way beyond initial planning expectations. Train capacity is not the only big problem. Ticket buying and entrygate congestion at peak times, especially at junction station's like Siam and Asok has become a nightmare. The BTS may well need to completely rebuild it's  central Bangkok stations.  Unfortunately, re-investment is not their strongpoint...even the elevator project launched last year seems to have come to a standstill at many stations.

Standing in line at machines is completely avoidable but you bring up a good point about max carriage size.
Never noticed it.

Extending platforms doesn't sound like a huge issue.

More trains? Not sure if this will work safely, peak hours already have them running every few minutes

[dddave]

8 minutes ago, whoareyou said:

More trains? Not sure if this will work safely, peak hours already have them running every few minutes

I was told by a BTS train operator that minimum distance between trains is two stations.  That seems to make sense.  I come from Boston where street cars also run in the underground tunnels, frequently with little separation between trains and rear-end collisions are not uncommon. 

[whoareyou]

I was told by a BTS train operator that minimum distance between trains is two stations.  That seems to make sense.  I come from Boston where street cars also run in the underground tunnels, frequently with little separation between trains and rear-end collisions are not uncommon. 

I have seen them every station at peak hours at times.. Pushing the limit no doubt

[Lakegeneve]

On 4/1/2017 at 1:57 PM, dddave said:

Unfortunately, five car trains are the maximum the system can accommodate, there is not enough platform for any more cars than that.

The BTS is a victim of it's own unexpected success as usage is way beyond initial planning expectations. Train capacity is not the only big problem. Ticket buying and entrygate congestion at peak times, especially at junction station's like Siam and Asok has become a nightmare. The BTS may well need to completely rebuild it's  central Bangkok stations.  Unfortunately, re-investment is not their strongpoint...even the elevator project launched last year seems to have come to a standstill at many stations.

This is not true. All stations are built for eventual 6 car operations.

 

The problem is that the BTSC has not purchased new rolling stock to keep pace with growing pax , http://bts.listedcompany.com/bts_ridership.html

They have always been about 5 years behind where they should be primarily and previously due to debt repayments. This is one of the major flaws of the private concessionaire model.

 

At least they have though, think about the poor MRT pax as BEM still has not pruchased any new rolling stock for the Blue Line though it originally planned to do so in 2008.

[Lakegeneve]

On 4/1/2017 at 2:20 PM, dddave said:

I was told by a BTS train operator that minimum distance between trains is two stations.  That seems to make sense.  I come from Boston where street cars also run in the underground tunnels, frequently with little separation between trains and rear-end collisions are not uncommon. 

Headway time, or frequency, has little to do with distance between stations. It is what capacity that the overall system (line) can accommodate for safe running and thus the times between services. There is some good data here for Boston, http://mbtaviz.github.io/

 

During peak on the Sukhumvit Line it will not go below 2.10-2.20 frequency, I think that it is listed at 2.20 but there is some small flexibility. Crossy can better answer that.

I doubt that the BTS will ever go below 2 mins in the future ......... who knows in 20 years?

 

The highest frequency in any metro in the world is in Hong Kong where you have a 1.30 headway between trains. No operator in the world will go below this as it is unsafe to do so.

 

Once important note, people often mistake the headway time as they don't time it from the exact same point. The perception can be that one train seemingly just departed a station and they see another arrives 15-20 seconds later. However, this is not the case if you time it from a fixed point once the train stops, or departs, as it also take into account the dwell time for pax loading/unloading.

[Crossy]

2 hours ago, Lakegeneve said:

During peak on the Sukhumvit Line it will not go below 2.10-2.20 frequency, I think that it is listed at 2.20 but there is some small flexibility. Crossy can better answer that.

I doubt that the BTS will ever go below 2 mins in the future ......... who knows in 20 years?

 

I think you're right LG. The BTS design headway (absolute minimum) is 90 seconds but you would never operate anywhere near that, 2 minutes is the practical safe limit.

 

[bkkcanuck8]

13 hours ago, Lakegeneve said:

This is not true. All stations are built for eventual 6 car operations.

 

The problem is that the BTSC has not purchased new rolling stock to keep pace with growing pax , http://bts.listedcompany.com/bts_ridership.html

They have always been about 5 years behind where they should be primarily and previously due to debt repayments. This is one of the major flaws of the private concessionaire model.

 

At least they have though, think about the poor MRT pax as BEM still has not pruchased any new rolling stock for the Blue Line though it originally planned to do so in 2008.

The problem is that they were so proud to be near the top (I think 4th ranked in density) a few years ago -- it became obvious that they were not in a hurry to buy more rolling stock as it would "make it less dense" (probably not true in a year or two but... was pretty sure there was some of that logic in it).

[bkkcanuck8]

On 4/1/2017 at 0:16 AM, asanee said:

Baring is in a kind of dead end-the 1 stop extension will not get many really new customers-those that board at Baring now leave their bus in Samrong-or live there and took the bus to Baring only.

I took it to meet someone the day before yesterday -- and I found the bus stops were not moved to be right under the stop yet.... I might have missed it but it blew by the first station (so I got off and walked to Bearing), and on the way back it took a while to find the bus stop on the way out.  There was a larger volume of people getting off at Bearing than Samrong.  There is a lot of "dense" construction around Samrong though -- which was probably was why there was more pressure to open up that station ASAP.  Once the Bangkok Mall is finished (I think near BITEC?) which will be a massive landmark in it's own right, it will create another centre and I think you will see quite a volume of high density construction started within 3 or 4 stops of that Mall.  Density will continue to increase rapidly, so they either have to figure how to draw some people off (like on the pink line) or build a second express line that would make it attractive to leave.... maybe an express line that runs up a bit down to Makassan then turn south somewhere in the CBD.