(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Above: Offloading the last of three subway coaches on October 15 at the Royal Thai Airforce base at Don Muang Airport in Bangkok.
The subway cars are delivered
Wisarut reports: The first subway
rolling stock will came out of Siemens factory in Austria (with the part
preassembled from Siemens factories in Germany and England) on July 18,
2003. Thairath (May 2, 2003) reported that the first set of rolling
stock from Siemens AG (Austria office) will be delivered by air in this
September to be displayed at the APEC summit. MRTA officials inform 2Bangkok.com
that there is only one plane in the world (a Russian Tupolov) that is
in service for a delivery of this size and it has to be specially scheduled
for this delivery.
Rollout
of first metro train for the Bangkok Blue Line
- July 21, 2003
From the Siemens website. A photo is here.
Bangkok subway cars being loaded on a plane - October 11, 2003
Thanks to Gerald for finding these awesome photos of our first subway
car being loaded into a massive Antonov. Subway/Antonov
I & Subway/Antonov
II
Subway car arrival today - translated and summarized from Matichon Daily, October 15, 2003
8:45 - Antonov AN124-100 lands at Donmuang AFB and heads toward RTAF HQ
building. Two other Antonov planes will park in parallel with the third
plane. There will be video about the project and King Chulalongkorn and
railway affairs.
9:00 - Officials explain the rolling stock assembly, the capacity of the
Antonov planes, etc.
9:30 - Premier Thaksin and Minister Suriya speaks. A marching band plays.
Subway
cars arrive in Bangkok - October 31,
2003
Photos of the offloading of the subway cars from an Antonov 124 airplane
First
train arrives by air from Austria - Bangkok
Post, October 16, 2003
The first train built for Bangkok's new subway network was handed over
yesterday, flown in from Austria by a giant cargo lifter. ...BMCL has
ordered 19 three-carriage trains. The production period was shortened
from 30 to 27 months as required by the government. This would be a world
record for fast train production, according to Hans-Dieter Bott, vice-president
of Siemens Transportation Systems Co. The other 18 trains will be delivered
by sea by March next year.
Bangkok subway car
on display - November 2, 2003
The first Bangkok subway car on display at the "Life and Living 2003"
exhibition at the Impact Convention Center, Muangthong Thani.
More subway cars arrive - translated and summarized from Matichon Daily, December 20, 2003
The second and third set of subway cars have reached pier 5A of Laem Chabang
Deep Sea Port at 3pm on December 19, 2003. MRTA will test the braking
system, air conditioning, acceleration/deceleration, etc. inside the tunnel
at the MRTA depot before the test run on April 13, 2004.
Where to see the subway cars - January 19, 2004
Subway cars are often stored in the open at the MRTA Depot. They can be
seen by taking Thiam Ruam Mit Road to where it merges into the road (unnamed?)
that circles the subway depot.
Delivery of the subway
cars
Press release about the subway car delivery: Bangkok, Thailand –
October 30, 2003 – The Freight Co Ltd, a Bangkok based freight forwarding
company specializing in international freight and logistics was entrusted
with the customs clearance and delivery of the first complete subway train
for the new Bangkok Subway due to open later next year. The subway train
consisting of 3 coaches was flown from Austria to Thailand on 3 chartered
AN-124-100.
The first coach was uplifted in Vienna on October 9th and the last coach
arrived on October 15th for the official welcoming ceremony at Bangkok
Donmuang Air Force Base. Arrival time of the last coach was scheduled
to match the official reception chaired by Deputy P.M. Visanu Krau-ngam
and Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit. The project was successfully
completed on schedule with the delivery of all 3 coaches to Siemens AG
during the night of October 15th.
The complex structure of the project required a lot of preparation and
coordination between several government agencies and private companies
involved including Royal Thai Air Force, Airports of Thailand, Thai Airports
Ground Services, Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, Bangkok Metro
CO LTD, Siemens and various others.
The Freight CO LTD previously already handled Bangkok’s first Mass
Rapid Transit System (Bangkok Skytrain) for Siemens on a turnkey basis.
Final four sets of
subway rolling stock delivered - translated and
summarized from the MRTA website
Governor Praphat Jongsa-nguan has come to A5 Pier of Laem Chabang Deep
Sea port to receive the final delivery of subways from Siemens AG which
has been shipped by Japanese NYK Logistics & Megacarrier on April
20, 2004. The final four sets of subway rolling stocks are in Delphinus
Leader cargo ship. These will be ready for the inauguration of the subway
in August 2004.
The first set (No 1004) was been delivered by Antonov AN 124-100 on October
15, 2003. The next 14 sets were shipped to Laem Chabang in every 2 weeks
for 7 times starting from December 19, 2003 while the last four sets were
shipped by NYK on April 20, 2004.
More on the Bangkok Subway or go to the 2Bangkok.com main page
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Front of the Antonov 124-100
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Preparing the ramp
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Very early in the morning
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Bangkok subway car inside the airplane
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Guests and VIPs take a look
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
More preparation for the offloading
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Leveling the ramps
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
More adjustments
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Ramp detail
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Rolling out
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Subway car at the end of the ramp
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Truck backs up to the waiting subway car
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Inserting pieces to the end of the ramp
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Monitoring the process
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Rolling on to the truck
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Precision--wheels of the bogie as it rolls
onto the truck
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Checking alignment
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Almost on the trailer
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Securing the bogie
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Covering the car for a ceremony
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Workers pose in front of the train
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Two of the subway cars offloaded
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Interior of the Antonov
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Band plays for the VIPs
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
The three cars waiting in an airplane hanger
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Below: Various views of the Antonov
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
(Photo: The Freight Co. Ltd.)
Delivery photos above are courtesy of
the The Freight Co. Ltd.
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
Bangkok subway
car on display - November 2, 2003
The first Bangkok subway car on display at the "Life and Living
2003" exhibition at the Impact Convention Center, Muangthong Thani.
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
Above left: Looking in the end of the car.
Above right and below: The subway cars is obviously almost a close on the Skytrain cars except they lack some of the stylistic elements like the curving, overhead handgrip bars.
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
I was the flight manager on the flights bringing the first 3 units to Bangkok, hard work but a very rewarding end result. We carried the Thai Minister of Transportation on the first flight a very nice man who made light of the fairly primitive conditions he had to endure on board!!!