Tuesday July 17th 2007 - Bangkok

I walked to Victory Monument to catch the SkyTrain to Mo Chit where Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) is headquartered. When I arrived there, I was greeted by Mr. Sutep (Lek) Punthupeng, Manager of Control Room Section in Train Operations Division. I was then brought to meet Mr. Sandy Yu, Head of Operations. Mr. Yu is originally from Hong Kong. When Bangkok wanted to have a rail transit system, they realized that they don’t have enough local expertise. So, foreigners like Mr. Yu were brought in to train the locals.

After casual conversation with Mr. Yu, Mr. Lek gave a short presentation to give an overview of the BTS system. He started by explaining the need for better public transportation system in Bangkok and then he discussed BTS’s existing system and future expansions.

Currently, there are about 11.5 million people live in Bangkok. By 2011, this figure is expected to increase to 14 million. There are 1.5 million car ownerships and this number is projected to increase to two to three millions. Besides the unrestricted growth in car ownership and property development, there is an explosive growth in birth rate and in-flux of immigrants to Bangkok. All these factors lead to excessive congestion, pollution and urban sprawl.



The BTS SkyTrain offers a promising alternative to alleviate the problems. It requires only 9 m (30 ft) wide corridor for elevated structure, and carries 60,000 people per hour per direction versus 245 m (804 ft) wide road by cars for the same capacity.



Currently, the BTS system only accounts for 5% of public transport market share. The total length of the system is 23.5 km (14.6 miles) with a station in every kilometer. In 2006, it carries 139 million passengers. The BTS owns 35 Siemens-made trains in which 32 of them are used daily while the rest is maintained. They have ordered 12 new trains from a Mitsui-Bombardier joint venture. In 1 ½ years, the BTS is planned to adopt a new dispatching system from Bombardier to allow moving-block operation to increase line capacity.

The BTS has also started some extension projects to expand the system.


After the presentation, I had lunch at the employees’ cafeteria with Mr. Lek, Mr. Yu and Mr. Leung Chun Kong, Maintenance Training Consultant from Hong Kong. Right after that, we all went to the control room.





After leaving the headquarters, Mr. Lek brought me to their maintenance plant.



Mr. Lek then brought me ride the system, in-cab rides I should emphasize!



Overall, I practically had access to all the BTS facilities. The visit to BTS is probably among the best experiences I had in this journey.