Moving Bangkok in a sustainable way
Bangkok's population has been booming for years. The number of private vehicles in use continues to grow, resulting in more and more air pollution and traffic congestion. To cope with the need for mobility, the city planned to increase the share of urban transport users from 40 percent in 2016 to 60 percent by 2021. This required the systematic expansion of the city's rapid transit system, which at the time was serving just over a million passengers. Therefore, in 2016 the Thai government cabinet set up the Mass Rapid Transit Master Plan to accelerate development of urban rail transit in Bangkok’s metropolitan region.
Extending the Blue Line Metro
Bangkok’s first subway was the Blue Line which started operations in 2004 and was successfully transporting around 320,000 passengers a day on the 20-kilometer metro line with 18 stations. Siemens Mobility delivered the metro system in a turnkey approach in only 28 months, two whole months less than the contractually stipulated project duration. In 2016 the government decided to strengthen the successful line to cope with the mobility needs of its residents. The extension was supposed to complete the semi-circle-shaped line, and double the Blue Line’s overall track length, adding another 28 kilometers and 19 stations from Hua Lamphong to Lak Song and Bang Sue to Tha Pra. With the line's extension completed, experts forecast that Bangkok's metro will transport up to 500,000 passengers per day.
Fully integrated system, minimum project duration
Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited (BEM) and CH. Karnchang Public Company Limited placed an order with a consortium of Siemens Mobility and ST Electronics (Thailand) Limited to supply an integrated rail system for the extension of Bangkok's Blue Line Metro.
The project schedule was very tight with only 27 months from project start to trial run in one section of the system. Thanks to a turnkey approach the project team achieved the delivery of the full system in less than 2.5 years since the order was awarded, and delivered the sections for public demo runs three months before scheduled.
Urban Mobility: A Master Plan to Counteract non-stop Traffic Congestion
Bangkok, a major business center, is preparing for the future by creating a new local public transport network. Siemens is supporting this megacity’s efforts in many different ways.
