Thai Railways

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Rail service in Thailand was founded in 1890.

SRT was founded as the Royal State Railways of Siam (RSR) in 1890. Construction of the Bangkok-Ayutthaya railway (71 km), the first part of the Northern Line, was started in 1891 and completed on May 23, 1892. The Thonburi-Phetchaburi line (150 km), later the Southern Line, was opened on June 19, 1903.

The Northern Line was originally built as standard gauge, but in September 1919 it was decided to standardize on meter gauge and the Northern Line was regauged during the next ten years. On July 1, 1951, RSR changed its name to the present State Railway of Thailand.

In 2005 SRT had 4,070 km of track, all of it meter gauge. Nearly all is single-track, although some important sections around Bangkok are double or triple-tracked and there are plans to extend this.

SRT operates international services to Butterworth in Penang, Malaysia, in conjunction with Malaysian state operator KTM.

A link across the Friendship Bridge to Tha Na Laeng near Vientiane in Laos opened in March 2009.

There are also plans to re-open rail links to Cambodia via Poipet from the railhead at Aranyaprathet. Railway connections to Myanmar (Burma), notably the infamous Death Railway, are now defunct.

SRT also operates some commuter services around Bangkok.

SRT is operating the Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link (SARL) to Suvarnabhumi Airport, scheduled to open in April 2010. Using Siemens Desiro 3-car EMUs for the City Line and 4-car EMUs (3 + 1 baggage car) for the Express Line, it will run at medium speed (160 km/h) and link with BTS at Phaya Thai and MRT at Petchaburi, in addition to a new transit center planned at Makkasan and Bang Sue for the SRT Lines. The City Air Terminal is at Makkasan.

NickLim™ SG

The Bangkok Mass Transit System, commonly known as the BTS Skytrain, is an elevated rapid transit system in Bangkok, Thailand. It is operated by Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company Limited (BTSC) under a concession granted by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). The system consists of twenty-three stations along two lines: the Sukhumvit line running northwards and eastwards, terminating at Mo Chit and On Nut respectively, and the Silom line which plies Silom and Sathon Roads, the Central Business District of Bangkok, terminating at the National Stadium and Wongwian Yai. The lines interchange at Siam Station and have a combined route distance of 55 km. The system is formally known as the Elevated Train in Commemoration of HM the King's 6th Cycle Birthday.

Bangkok's first attempt at building an elevated rail network was the Bangkok Elevated Road and Train System, which was terminated in 1998 after only 10% had been completed.

The BTS system (the elevated metro system owned by BMA) was initially referred to as the Lavalin Skytrain because it was to be designed using the Vancouver SkyTrain as a model adopting the technology developed by SNC-Lavalin. Due to political interference, the concession with Lavalin was cancelled in 1992, in spite of Bangkok's chronic traffic congestion. The Thai Government focused on increasing road and expressway infrastructure in an attempt to combat congestion. However, this had less than the desired impact as the number of cars on the road increased dramatically. The lines considered under the skytrain project became later the basis for the Bangkok Metro system and interesting enough are mainly underground.

In the early 1990s, foundations for the Lavalin Skytrain were constructed in the middle of two bridges spanning the Chao Phraya river. The Taksin bridge now supports the Silom line to Thon Buri, completed in April 2009. The supports at Phra Pok Klao bridge remain unused but may be utilised as part of the MRT's future Purple Line.

Shortly after it became clear that the Lavalin Skytrain was stalled, then-governor Major-General Chamlong Srimuang asked his deputy Krisda Arunvongse na Ayutthaya to create a new feeder system with a route along Sukhumvit and Silom Rd. Krisda, who in the same period was elected governor, and his team from BMA managed to find an investor to build it. Krisda also convinced all to let the city supervise the project. The investor founded Bangkok Transit System Corporation and this company successfully financed the system and grew it from a feeder system to a full mass transit project. Siemens as supplier of the railway technology and the Thai contractor Italian Thai Development built the system for BTSC.

The 'Skytrain' name was given to the system later by the press. It stuck and will likely be kept even though the portion of system through the historic Rattanakosin island will one day be below grade.

Originally, the Skytrain depot was to be built in Lumphini Park, but due to widespread objections from Bangkok residents it was constructed on a parcel of land located along Phahonyothin Road, replacing the old Northern/Northeastern bus terminal (Mo Chit). The current depot at Mo Chit is a part of the proposed 'Bangkok Terminal' project, where a large complex comprising a new regional bus terminal, park & ride facility and other commercial development can be built directly above it.

The Skytrain system was officially opened on December 5, 1999 by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. It initially had lower-than-predicted ridership, with 200,000 passenger trips per day. Ticket revenue was only enough to meet the trains' operating cost, and not sufficient to service construction loans. However, the Skytrain's daily passenger numbers have steadily increased since then. On December 9, 2005, more than 500,000 single trips were made on the Skytrain in a single day for the first time. BTSC is currently planning to purchase more trains and is studying the possibility of putting 6-car trains into service. The company implemented a contactless ticketing system in 2007, and plans to allow both BTS and MRT passengers to use their RFID smart cards as single ticketing system early 2010.

Political problems coupled with favoritism and nepotism stalled several expansion projects over the years. The government of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was accused of stalling the Skytrain extensions in order to punish the BMA, which was controlled by the opposition Democrat Party, in an attempt to prevent the Democrats from gaining popularity among Bangkok residents.

In 2002 the cabinet amended a law in order to allow a private firm to finance the cost of operating the train system, while the government would take care of all the civil engineering work. On October 18, 2005, with no approval from the central government forthcoming, the BMA decided to complete the 2.2 km Silom Line route extension (S7 Charoen Nakhon & S8 Wongwian Yai) using its own budget. Construction began on December 13, 2005 with completion originally expected within a year, but problems with tendering for the signalling system repeatedly pushed back the schedule, with the extension finally opening on 15 May 2009. However, Saphan Taksin (originally designed to be only a temporary station) has only one track, which has caused repeated delays during rush hour.

A second extension from On Nut east towards Bearing started construction in 2007, for completion in early 2011.

Further extensions have been proposed from Mo Chit north to Saphan Mai, from Bearing to east Samut Prakan, from Wongwian Yai west to Bang Wa and from National Stadium west to Phran Nok. The viaduct from Wongwian Yai to Bang Wa is already built, while the other two haven't started with construction yet. The Bangkok government plans to allocate 55.6 billion baht to complete the first two by 2012.

The BTS Skytrain uses two variations of Electric Multiple Unit rolling stock. All operate on 1435 mm rail gauge (standard gauge). All trains have 4 doors on each side per car, an air-conditioning unit, and LCD monitors for public announcement and advertising. The power supply for all trains is at 750 V DC from the third rail.

Siemens Modular Metro Train

The rolling stock of BTS Skytrain, in use since the opening of the line in 1999, consist of 35 Siemens Modular Metro trains from Siemens AG. All trains have 3 cars, 2 motor cars and 1 trailer on center. The Sukhumvit line employs 20 trains, and the Silom Line has 15.

The Silom Line cars have been modified to support a signaling system from Bombardier Transportation since the extension from Saphan Taksin to Wong Wian Yai.

Future Bombardier - Changchun trains

BTSC ordered new 48 set of trains from Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd. based on Bombardier MOVIA but the design is based on the existing BTS's Siemens Modular Metro. The new trains will be delivered to Bangkok in June 2010 to serve on the Silom Line, which cannot increase trains frequency because of the single track bottleneck at the Saphan Taksin bridge, while the number of passenger has increased since the Wong Wian Yai and Krung Thonburi station were opened. These trains consist of 4 cars, 2 motor cars and 2 trailer cars, and will feature with LCD TVs for public announcement and advertising. An advanced digital voice announcement (DVA) and passenger information systems will be installed.

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The MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), sometimes referred to as the Bangkok Metro, is Bangkok's underground metro system. It was constructed under a concession concept. Most civil infrastructure were provided by the government sector, Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) and handed over to their concessionaire under a 25-year concession agreement. Bangkok Metro Company Limited (BMCL) is the only private sector company that won a bid in MRTA's concession contract for the blue line. As MRTA's concessionaire, BMCL provides M&E equipment, including electrical trains, signalling systems, SCADA, communication, PSD, etc for the subway project and fully operates the system. To maintain the system, BMCL has subcontracted in 10 years to Siemens which was the M&E system supplier since system opeing and 7 years maintenance contract to two local maintenance services for north and south line. The MRT line is officially known in Thai as rotfaifah mahanakhon (รถไฟฟ้ามหานคร) or "metropolitan electric train", but it is more commonly called rotfai taidin (รถไฟใต้ดิน), literally, "underground train". The metro has a fleet of 19 trains; the 19th train entered service in October, 2007 after a major accident.

The construction of the first Bangkok Metro line, officially known as Chaloem Ratchamongkhon (Thai สายเฉลิมรัชมงคล) – "Celebration of Royal Auspice" – or informally as the "Blue Line", began on 19 November 1996. The project suffered multiple delays not only because of the 1997 economic crisis, but also due to challenging civil engineering works of constructing massive underground structures deep in the water-logged soil upon which the city is built.

The Blue Line was opened for a limited public trial period of several weeks starting on 13 April 2004. On 3 July 2004 the line was officially opened at 19:19 local time by HM King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit, who were accompanied by other members of the royal family. Within 30 minutes of its opening, sightseers filled the system to its maximum capacity, but after the initial rush ridership has settled down to around 180,000 riders daily — considerably lower than projections of over 400,000, despite fares being slashed in half from 12-38 baht to 10-15 baht per trip. From 2006 until 2008, fares ranged between 14-36 baht per trip. The fare was raised to 16-41 Baht on 1 January 2009.

The 21-kilometer, 18-station Blue line presently runs from Bang Sue to Hua Lamphong via Phra Ram 9 and has a carrying capacity of 40,000 people in each direction per hour. Similar to the Skytrain, the Metro uses trains supplied by Siemens which travel up to 80 km/h. Passengers can conveniently connect to the Skytrain at Si Lom, Sukhumvit and Chatuchak Park stations. The metro has a large depot in Huai Khwang district, which is located between Phra Ram 9 and Thailand Cultural Centre stations. Considering that Bangkok is a low-lying plain which is prone to flooding, all of the Metro's station entrances are raised about one metre above the ground level and are equipped with built-in floodgates in order to avoid water inundating the system. Lifts and ramps are found at all stations, providing easy access for passengers in wheelchairs. Stations have multiple passage ways (generally four) which allow passengers to connect to any corner of the adjacent surface intersection. Maps depicting the local area and exit points are posted on the walls on the way out. Due to safety considerations, platform screen doors are installed. Uniformed security personnel and security cameras are present at each and every platform.

19 three-car metro trains, of the Siemens Modular Metro type, are used. Each metro train consists of two motor cars and a centre trailer car.

The ticketing system uses RFID contactless technology with round black tokens issued for single trips and contactless stored value cards for frequent travellers. In the near future, a joint ticketing system will be set up so that passengers can use a single ticket on the Metro as well as on the Skytrain. Multi-storey park & ride facilities are provided at Lat Phrao and Thailand Cultural Centre. Motorists who park their cars at these premises will be issued with additional contactless smartcards and they need to have them electronically stamped at their destination station.

On 17 January 2005, just after 09:15, an empty train returning to the depot collided with a peak-hour train filled with passengers at the Thailand Cultural Centre station. 140 people were hurt, most of whom sustained only minor injuries, and the entire Metro network was shut down for two weeks.

After initial investigations, it was found that the empty train had run into problems shortly before the accident, grinding to a halt on a curve leading to the depot. The driver applied its brake and was waiting to be towed to the maintenance centre close to Thailand Cultural Centre station.

A rescue train was attempting to connect to the stalled train when the driver was told to release the brake while coupling had not yet been successful. It was then that the empty train began to roll backwards at a speed of ten metres per second, before smashing into the other train, which was carrying passengers. Therefore, it was believed that the incident was caused by negligence due to insufficient training of operation staff. This accident also resulted in two damaged trains with heavily damaged areas limited to the two leading cars. The colliding speed was suspected to be about 60 km/hrs due to the appearance of damaged areas. However, one train, which was rebuilt from the repair of the minor-damaged cars, was already fitted for operation at the end of 2006 and the remaining one was still under heavy repair until mid of 2007; it was released into service in October, 2007. The cost resulting from the accident might be a much higher figure than BMCL quoted, and it was expected to be at least 400 million baht, which was totally insured by a local insurance company. The accident was recorded as the most severe damage ever in any metro system in Thailand.

The Metro resumed full operation on 1 February 2005, and passenger numbers soon rose back to pre-crash levels, partly due to a temporary promotional fare scheme which allowed passengers to travel any distance on the MRT for only ten baht (SGD 0.42).

Various expansion plans of the Metro have been proposed, as of 2010, construction work has been started on the MRT Purple Line. It is planned that, eventually, the combined route distance of the Metro alone will total 91 km with 3 Metro lines covering all of the major areas of Bangkok. The Blue line, once completely extended, will form a lariat-shaped loop encircling the city.