reader Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 From Khaosod English BANGKOK — Skytrain officials on Wednesday hinted that the long-delayed plan to expand a popular station close to Taksin Bridge may be implemented within the “beginning of this year.” After years of lengthy discussions and uncertainty concerning the fate of BTS Saphan Taksin station, the rail operator said the station will be closed for expansion works for 40 months and construction will likely begin later this year, though they gave no precise time frame. “We’re currently discussing the plan with relevant agencies,” BTS public relations officer Patchaneeya Sukcharoen said. “No dates have been set, but the plan should begin within the beginning of this year.” The station, located on the east end of Taksin Bridge, has long been a bottleneck of the system due to its single track layout where only one train can stop at the station at a time. Congestion at BTS Taksin Bridge worsened in recent years as more commuters and tourists relied on the station as a link to the nearby river boats and ferries. The new plan will add a second set of tracks and platform at the station to ease congestion, according to the operator. “The service will operate as usual, but trains will not stop at Saphan Taksin,” BTS CEO Surapong Laoha-Unya said. “We will provide shuttle buses from Surasak and Krung Thon Buri stations for passengers during that period.” He added, “When it’s done, trains will arrive every two minutes, shorter than the current wait time of three minutes.” The CEO said the company will invest in the 1.1 billion baht project, which also includes the addition of traffic lanes on Taksin Bridge. Surapong expected the works to be completed within the end of 2022. http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/transpo/2020/01/15/bts-again-floats-plan-to-close-rebuild-saphan-taksin-station/ ggobkk and vinapu 2 Quote
pong Posted January 19, 2020 Posted January 19, 2020 Note that THIS part of the BTS system is privately owned. Taksin (a former King, has nothing at all to do with a former fugitive PM-quite different spelled in Thai) was the end of the Silom line for many years after system started. It all seemed impossible in the past as apparently the whole bridge-incl. the many carlanes would have to be rebuilt-so they left it-except for the plan to abolish the whole stop. Lets see and wait-even 3 mins frequency is just hopeful wishing on that line. Quote
Guest Posted January 20, 2020 Posted January 20, 2020 1 Running longer trains would be an easy and obvious start to improve services. 2 The people designing the public transport system don't seem to have a clue about how to configure it for easy expansion, connectivity or even efficient ticketing. Quote
vinapu Posted January 20, 2020 Posted January 20, 2020 27 minutes ago, z909 said: 2 The people designing the public transport system don't seem to have a clue about how to configure it for easy expansion, connectivity or even efficient ticketing. probably they are never using system they are in charge of , like atheists in charge of church planning Quote
Guest Posted January 21, 2020 Posted January 21, 2020 On 1/20/2020 at 9:05 PM, vinapu said: probably they are never using system they are in charge of , like atheists in charge of church planning They should firstly send them to Tokyo, then have them use the Thai system. Then let them loose on the design and planning work and finally, force them to travel to work on the system for 10 years after construction. Quote