Long-awaited 1.2km missing rail link from Bang Sue to Tao Poon officially opens

[webfact]

Long-awaited 1.2km missing rail link from Bang Sue to Tao Poon officially opens

By Thai PBS

 

 

BANGKOK: -- The long-awaited 1.2 kilometre missing rail service between the Blue Line and the Purple Line was officially opened today by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at Taopoon station.

 

The rail link will enable convenience for commuters to travel all the way on the original Blue Line from Hua Lamphong station to Bang Yai station in Bangkok’s neighbouring Nonthaburi province covering a total distance of 44 kilometres.

 

Currently the original Blue Line from Hua Lamphong to Bang Sue is 21 kilometres, while the distance from Bang Sue to Bang Yai is 23 kilometres.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/long-awaited-1-2km-missing-rail-link-bang-sue-tao-poon-officially-opens/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-08-11

[BigBadGeordie]

[berybert]

[Mister Fixit]

What has never been made clear about this missing link is this - when taking the train from Taopoon to Bang Sue will passengers then have to alight and change platforms to the existing Blue Line -  IE is this new link just a one-off discrete piece of line connecting the two stations?

 

Or can passengers get on at Taopoon and stay on the train all the way to Hua Lamphong?  In other words, have they actually joined up the link to the main Blue Line and now the new termini are Taopoon and Hua Lamphong?

 

And the next question is, when will the powers that be start to think ahead a bit (which they should have done 20 years ago) and have an integrated ticketing system for both MRT, BTS And eventually buses and in just about any other large city on the planet?

 

 

[webfact]

PM opens ‘missing link’, finally connecting dots on MRT map

By The Nation

 

 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Friday morning formally opened the kilometre-long “missing link” in Bangkok’s MRT system, between the Purple Line’s Tao Poon station and the Blue Line’s Bang Sue station.

The ceremony began at 9am and the trains started rolling at noon.

 

MRT acting governor Ritthikar Suparat pointed out that passengers could now transfer directly between the Blue and Purple lines at Tao Poon. Those with MRT regular cards or MRT Plus cards can ride both lines with a single ticket. 

Passengers can also travel directly from Ban Yai to Hua Lamphong with a transfer at Tao Poon.

 

Ritthikar said that, until January, the Purple Line fares would be Bt14-Bt29 weekdays and Bt15 on weekends and holidays.

 

The gap between the two stations had resulted in fewer passengers than expected using the service. Prime Minister Prayut had to invoke his absolute power under Article 44 of the interim charter last December to get the lines joined up.

The fares are now set at Bt14-Bt57 on weekdays with MRT or MRT Plus cards and Bt14-Bt70 with tokens purchased at the stations, and Bt14-Bt43 on weekends and holidays regardless of whether cards or tokens are used.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30323514

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-08-11

[Xobtsiwt]

8 hours ago, Mister Fixit said:

What has never been made clear about this missing link is this - when taking the train from Taopoon to Bang Sue will passengers then have to alight and change platforms to the existing Blue Line -  IE is this new link just a one-off discrete piece of line connecting the two stations?

 

Or can passengers get on at Taopoon and stay on the train all the way to Hua Lamphong?  In other words, have they actually joined up the link to the main Blue Line and now the new termini are Taopoon and Hua Lamphong?

 

And the next question is, when will the powers that be start to think ahead a bit (which they should have done 20 years ago) and have an integrated ticketing system for both MRT, BTS And eventually buses and in just about any other large city on the planet?

 

 

The answer to your first question is no, passengers have to alight and change trains.

 

The answer to your second question is, probably never; it is not within the Thai sphere of consciousness to plan ahead. Thousands of years of Buddhist instruction have ensured that the Thai mentality is to 'live in the moment' as far as possible. This is quite apart from, but in addition to, the issue of who gets paid how much and when, which governs the majority of infrastructure projects in this great city of ours. It took more than twenty years to hammer out the Skytrain, which is now the BTS. We currently enjoy (if that is the right word) the benefits of a government that commands from on high. This has helped somewhat the decision-making process and implementation, but Thai history teaches us that such governments eventually fall prey to schism and the progress of time. The current one I expect to be no different, in which case forward planning will revert to the time-honoured, tried-and-tested methods of bygone times.

[Mister Fixit]

23 hours ago, Xobtsiwt said:

The answer to your first question is no, passengers have to alight and change trains.

 

 

Can you be more specific?  Alight and change trains where?  Alight at Taopoon, go down a floor then change to take the Blue Line downtown all the way, or alight at Taopoon, go down a floor, change to the Blue Line there and then change again at Bang Sue?

 

My guess is the latter, as I very much doubt there has been any integrated thinking with this change either.

[melvinmelvin]

hopefully someone will test this sun and comment back,

 

they way I understood what it would be like is that the

purple skytrain stops at TaoPoon

The underground from the city centre climbs above ground just after Bang Sue and stops at TaoPoon

and passengers swap trains at TaoPoon

 

there is another thread here on TV that goes into BKK electric train systems in quite some detail,

can't remember the name of teh thread off hand

 

 

[Xobtsiwt]

1 hour ago, Mister Fixit said:

 

Can you be more specific?  Alight and change trains where?  Alight at Taopoon, go down a floor then change to take the Blue Line downtown all the way, or alight at Taopoon, go down a floor, change to the Blue Line there and then change again at Bang Sue?

 

My guess is the latter, as I very much doubt there has been any integrated thinking with this change either.

Change once at Taopoon, as you say, by going down one floor. The Blue Line is now extended to Taopoon; the Purple Line ends there. The two lines are at right-angles to each other; this is Thailand, after all.

[Mister Fixit]

Well, I shall test it out tomorrow or Tuesday and report back here.  

 

My guess (but I hope I am wrong) is that I shall have to change at Taopoon and then that I shall have to change at Bang Sue again. But we shall see ...

 

Xobtsiwt said

 The two lines are at right-angles to each other; this is Thailand, after all.

 

I can understand that because eventually the Blue Line will be extended again from Taopoon to the west when the line is finally completed with the Taopoon to Hua Lampong/Tha Phra link  

 

 

[Mister Fixit]

Well, I went on the Purple Line today (14 August 2017) to check the link from Taopoon to Bang Sue on the Blue Line.

 

I am delighted to say that the link joins directly to the line at Bang Sue and now Taopoon is effectively the new terminus station on the northern end of the Blue Line.

 

I was concerned that they had done a bodge job and and passengers changing at Taopoon to the Blue Line would have to change again at Bang Sue, but no, they got it right eventually and so there is now a proper joined-up link.  Yay!  It took them long enough ...

 

I noticed that the Purple Line was pretty full where I got on at Nonthaburi Government, with only 2 free seats in the carriage at 11 am. In the past it has been almost the opposite with almost-empty carriages all the way to Taopoon and back.  

 

On arrival at Taopoon, there were dozens of signs and staff directing passengers to the link.  Also many signs saying 'Happy Blue Line'!  I'll bet they were happy having finally got the link working.

 

I went through Bang Sue and once I saw that there was no need to change again at Bang Sue, I got off at Kamphaeng Phet and went back.  Both trips cost me a whole 11 baht each way using the MRT 'Elder' card.  Pretty good value.  

 

The quick pictures show it's not as crowded as the BTS at Siam or Victory Monument, but it will get there soon enough.  I hope it won;t be as bad as the Skytrain has become.

 

 

[Denim]

The purple line was probably busier than usual today because of the national holiday and people having free time wanted to be amongst the first to check out the new link. Very common occurrence.

 

As soon as the holiday is over and the novelty has worn off things will get back to normal and the purple line will continue to make a loss and be relatively empty .

 

Just because the link is open it does not follow that there are now thousands of more commuters living along the purple line or that new areas are now accessible by train. It will be a few years yet before the purple line makes a profit. Have to wait for a lot more moobahns along the line to be completed and occupied first. It will happen.......but not for a few years yet.

[melvinmelvin]

Good Post Mister Fixit

 

That is how I expected it would work.

 

Now: A quizz;

 

Going from Bang Yai to Bearing, how?

 

1) Bang Yai --> TaoPoon then Underground to Sukhumvit then Skytrain to Bearing

 

2) Bang Yai --> TaoPoon then underground to Bang Sue then underground to Mo Chit then Skytrain to Bearing

 

Which would be the quickest?

 

 

[Mister Fixit]

17 hours ago, melvinmelvin said:

Good Post Mister Fixit

 

That is how I expected it would work.

 

Now: A quizz;

 

Going from Bang Yai to Bearing, how?

 

1) Bang Yai --> TaoPoon then Underground to Sukhumvit then Skytrain to Bearing

 

2) Bang Yai --> TaoPoon then underground to Bang Sue then underground to Mo Chit then Skytrain to Bearing

 

Which would be the quickest?

 

 

 

Thanks.  Well that is how I HOPED it would work, but knowing the cock-ups of the past I wasn't sure just what to expect.  I'm glad they got it right eventually.  

 

As to your second point, going from Bang Yai to Bearing, I would probably go the second way you suggested, because that way it is more likely that I would get a seat for the entire journey.   I may well have to queue on the platform at Mo Chit and scurry for a seat when the doors opened, but the first way is less convenient for me.  

 

I would have the fairly long walk from Sukhumvit station to Asok, push through the melee of passengers on the escalators and elbow my way through to the ticket machines standing behind tourists struggling with coinage.  Then there would be the wait for the train and then the push and shove to get on, then there would also be the standing in a crush until the passengers thinned out enough to finally get a seat, maybe by about On Nut.  

 

It would also probably be the quickest, but as long as I had a seat all the way, I wouldn't mind if it took 5 or 10 minutes longer.