Bombardier Transportation has announced 2 contracts for its Innovia Monorail 300 system for 2 mass rapid transit lines in Thailand. Bombardier Transportation is headquartered in Berlin.
The contracts are with the Northern Bangkok Monorail Co. Ltd. (NBM) and the Eastern Bangkok Monorail Co. Ltd. (EBM), who will be responsible for the turnkey construction and 30-year concession of the new elevated lines which will improve the commute for over 400,000 people and visitors every day.
The contract with NBM concerns the new 34.5 km Khae Rai-MinBuri (Pink) Line to operate with 42 train sets and EBM’s contract comprises 30 trainsets for the 30.4 km Lat Phrao-Samrong (Yellow) Line.
The contracts also include providing the project management, systems engineering and integration, testing, and commissioning for the new trains and systems.
Thailand monorail
Bombardier will design and supply the mechanical and electrical elements for the 2 monorail lines, and will deliver 72 4-car INNOVIA Monorail 300 trains (288 cars) equipped with Bombardier Cityflo 650 automatic train control technology for driverless operation.
The trainsets will be manufactured at the Bombardier joint-venture Puzhen Bombardier Transportation Systems (PBTS) in China, working with Bombardier’s global Monorail Product and Engineering Experts.
“It is truly a landmark milestone for our monorail technology to be chosen for these visionary urban development projects in Bangkok.”
“Bombardier is helping cities across the world address their congestion issues and these iconic monorails will be an important addition to Bangkok’s growing rail network, providing comfortable, quick travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers daily,” said Richard Hunter, President of Rail Control Solutions and Southeast Asia at Bombardier Transportation. “Our driverless INNOVIA Monorail 300 system offers energy efficiency, sleek design, spacious interiors and inter-car walkthrough for superb comfort and enhanced safety as well as rubber tires for minimized noise and a smooth ride. Also able to handle sharp curves and complex environments, it is well suited to the high-capacity requirements of the Thai capital. Falling in our 20th anniversary year in Thailand, it is truly a landmark milestone for our monorail technology to be chosen for these visionary urban development projects in Bangkok.”
The contract is valued at THB50 billion (US$1.47 billion) for trains to be used on the 2 monorail routes.
Operating in the city’s northern and eastern areas, the monorails will integrate with the existing transportation network and run at speeds up to 80 km/h with a maximum capacity of over 28,000 passengers per hour, per direction.
The Thai cabinet awarded the THB105 billion (US$3 billion) concession contracts of the 2 monorail projects earlier for the 34.5 km Pink Line and 30.4 km Yellow Line to BSR, a joint venture among BTS Group Holding Plc which is running the BTS skytrains in Bangkok, Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc (STEC) and Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc (Ratch).
Construction work can start this year and will start operation in 2020. Keeree Kanjanapas, Chairman of BTS Group, which holds 75 percent of the BSR consortium, said, “After we agree on the trains and all the land is surveyed, we can begin the construction work, in this year.”
Thai government will inject some THB40 billion for related civil works and BSR will invest THB60 million in construction, train operation, and management in the 2 projects worth over THB100 billion in total.
The contracts of the 2 lines are divided into 2 phases, the first being the construction, which will last 39 months while the second phase is in operation, which will last 30 years.
Spider Card
In related news, Bangkok is set to introduce its “Spider Card” this year. A common ticketing system for different modes of public transport.
Peraphon Thawornsupacharoen, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Transport, said the system, called the main moom (spider), will be used not only by 4 electric rail routes but also by the city bus system which operates 2,600 buses in the city.
Passengers currently have to buy separate tickets for each rail service. The spider card will serve as a single ticket to make travel more convenient for Bangkok commuters and visitors.
Mr. Peraphon said the 4 electric rail systems – the BTS Skytrain, the Airport Rail Link, the Purple Line, and the Blue Line subway service – will likely be the first to use the new card.
Due to different companies operating the different transport systems it’s going to be complicated to sort out, meanwhile commuters and visitors are ready for its long overdue roll out.
The Ministry of Transport has also said a new public-private partnership is also needed to manage the card.
