Build-up to Opening Feb 1, 2005

[The Enforcer!]

At the speed they were working last evening, I think they will be lucky to finish by December 2005!

Mind you, it is not entirely their fault. How can they hope to work effectively by only blocking off one lane of Silom southbound. They should close the whole side of the road each evening.

The Enforcer!

[The Enforcer!]

The MRTA site says that H.M. The King will open the site at Hua Lampong at 1730 on Saturday then travel to Bang Sue.

Does anyone have any idea what time the stations will open to the public?

One engineer I spoke to seemed to indicate that the Security will allow public entry after 1800 but that seems too soon to me.

The Enforcer!

[Wisarut]

I have been into Subway in this evening - the Faithful evening that is the starting point of BKK Subway System. I rode Van to Chatuchak and the ride bus No 69 to BMA 2. I reach Fortune town by riding Motorcycle to Fortune Town to reach prha Ram 9 Station ... There was an online game masco show at Gate 1


At about 6 PM ... many people were storming Hua Lamphong as well as Phra Ram 9 Station. I could see those people from those kids, mothers with their children, granpas, grandmas, couples - Farang, Chinese -> Storming Rama 9 Station ...

Even the News Anchor from Asahi TV along with camera crew and interpreter were heading into Subway Gate 1 of Phra Ram 9 Station

At 7:14 PM (5 Minute before the AUSPECIOUS Moment that His Majesty has OFFICIALLY Opened Subway System - the gates were opening and human waves were heading into the booths and to buy 10-Baht smart tokens (imported from Japan at 80 Baht/piece) and 300-Baht Smart cards. I bought Both of them.

When the first train RELEASED by His Majesty was not arrived yet, I ran to pick the wallet - one of the gift for the first 99999 passengers in addition to the stationery.

Prha Ram 9 is the only other Station I know that ther is Subway TVM installed.

WHen the Subway released by His Majesty Arrived at 7:25, I took a half of the roll on the Japanese news anchors from Asahi Channel who interview the young passengers as well as a mother and a baby inside the subway ...

When I arrived into Hua Lamphong, I was STUNTED on the shck waves of local people storming Hua Lamphong .... It is even worse than Phra Ram 9 Station. BMCL and MRTA Officers have to closed Gate 2 (the Gate of His Majesty) and Gate 3 (the gate with pyramid in front of the gate) since many people are RAGING - closed to edge of insanity when they are goign storm into Subway station - due to the long lines of passengers

Now, I could see the Golden plate sign at Gate 3 Showing the name of this Subway line in addition to the golden plate shown inside Hua Lamphong station ... But I have to come out of Gate 1 to buy a new roll of film and then have to walk on the stair of Gate 4 to platform sinee Gate 4 has NO escalators.

For Lumphinee Station - It is very deep - even not as deep as Si Lom.

I could see the double tunnels for Orange line and the green lines to mark the tracks of future Orange line next to the Belgian Drawing

Subway heading to Bangsue and Hua Lamphong are filled up with passenger into Sadine cane level until it reaches 10 PM.

At one time I heard the young men told his frtiend that "Subway Rollign stocks is 2nd handed left over from Siemens" -> Then I yell back to that young man "Where in the HELL you get such kind of Rumour?"

I could see Indian, and muslim Bangkokians, Japanese businessmen, Chinese tourists and Farang - and his girlfriends riging Subway in addition to those commonmen in Bangkokkians. I could see passengers coming in and coming out of subway to the platforms like sea waves at Major stations like Hua Lamphong, Queen Sirikit Center, Phra Ram 9, Sukhumvit, Chatuchak Park ....

Kamphaen Phet station look very so so for me though ... even though now I could see the billboard covering the space which will become Metro Plaza.

To Expand Subway Systems Skytrain System and High Speed Rail System, Premier
Thaksin BETTER tunr Millenium Steel or Sahaviriya Steel into Siamese version
POSCO and Nippon Steel and turn the automobile assembly lines into Subway assembly lines.


It is very exhaused day for me ... You better wait unti I come up with the photos.

[Ed.: Photos are posted here: http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/Sub.../wistrip.shtml]

[illegalops]

A brief introduction. As a foreigner, I travelled in Bangkok's subway from Silom to Thailand Culture Center, and back to Hua Lumpong station on the 27th June 04.

Knowing that the subway was not in operations, my original intention was just to look at the station exterior. I took the BTS from Siam Square to Sala Daeng and walked to Silom Subway station when I found a short queue. An MRTA staff was checking the commuters' invitation passes before permitting entry.

I asked if I could go in to take a look. I believe the MRTA staff knew that I was a foreigner. To my surprise, he offered a pass to me (the same one displayed at the subway section of 2bangkok.com).

I was truly impressed. The 3 stations I saw were beautiful! Contactless cards at the gantry, the different decors in the station, granite flooring and brand new trains.

Great job on the subway MRTA!

[sabaisabai]

Thanks for the report Wisarut.

I made it on the first train, which I boarded at Hualampong. It was pretty rowdy there, with the rail staff trying to organise the public into queues, while everybody was very eager and trying to rush through.

All in all it was a great experience, especially seeing the King drive in.

I'll share some photos soon..

[Medic1669]

I am an EMT-basic at Narenthorn EMS center, Rajavithi hospital. We provide free ambulance service for anyone who are in immediate life-threatening situation such as having medical emegency or getting hurt by accident. We normally response to around 7 calls per day, and with our networks with other hospitals, we normally have 30 calls per day total in Bangkok. Good enough because very few people know we and our EMS network exist!! (but most police and rescue volunteers know what we do).

Monitoring my portable VHF walkie-talkie, until 7.00pm in the 2nd day of subway operation today, there were 5 ambulance calls requested by someone in either subway stations or control center (i am expecting some more calls coming in this evening) to help emergency medical patients in a number of subway stations.

I don't know what is it like inside a subway station, but my brother told me he felt hot and couldn't breath well once getting inside Bangsue station this afternoon. So i think the ventilation or air-conditioning system may need to be checked??

This is my first post here, sorry if my english are not grammatically correct!

[forumadmin]

We did get reports that on the first day so many people swamped the Hau Lamphong station that some people 'swooned' from the overcrowding.

And yes, the ticketing levels especially are muggy...

[ncr]

A summary of my experiences with the subway on my first day. No, I was not among the very first passengers on Saturday and did not receive one of those fancy gifts, but anyway. My girlfriend and I boarded at Phetchaburi station to go to Bangsue, then all the way back to Hualamphong, then finally to Silom. What we found was largely similar to what K. Wisarut reported from Saturday evening..... whole families, young and old, grandmothers, grandfathers, babies, lots of children....... people literally storming the trains, all the cars crowded to the max. (I imagine the Tokyo subway to be like this.) At Bangsue station the guards stopped people with a moveable barrier in the concourse area whenever too many passengers had accumulated in front of the ticket booths, presumably for safety reasons. Will be nice to get the statistics of passenger numbers for the first days of regular service. I am pretty sure they surpassed the expected marks on this Sunday 4th July 2004 and already set a record that will stand for some time.

It seemed just about everyone wanted to experience the new means of transportation and was excited and in a good mood.

In general, I was quite impressed and satisfied with the system. After seeing the first pics of the stations on 2Bangkok, I had imagined them to be more dull. Yes, the design is very modern and somewhat cold and not as inspired as the Skytrain's, but not that bad at all, either.

Some anecdotes from the underworld:

- An old man boarding at Bangsue was separated from his wife when jumping into the train at the last possible moment, doors already beeping and ultimately closing behind him. He took it with countenance.

- A funny family (women and one girl of 8-9 years), sitting next to where we were standing, was lamenting that the trip was rather boring as you "couldn't see anything" outside the windows and the Skytrain was much better because it offered a great view.Finally they decided to get off at Sukhumvit to take the Skytrain to Sala Daeng instead going on to Silom station.....

- Though the friendly staff everywhere were busy standing at the turnstiles explaining the use of the tokens and smartcards, at Hualamphong (where the queues in front of the ticket booths were the longest), a group of elderly people had substantial problems passing the barriers. I am really not sure why, as you just shortly have to hold the token/card close to the designated area. Anyway, it was a comical scene for all to behold when some family members, already on the other side of the turnstile, gesticulated and tried to explain to their relatives how to do it and cheered them on to pass through when the barrier finally came down, but they still hesitated to move, apparently intimidated and confused by the technology.

- Funniest of all, somehow, an old woman on the way from Hualamphong to Sam Yan who asked my girlfriend where she had to get off. She then went on to explain she had seen the news of the subway opening on TV the day before and had found it so interesting that she wanted to check the train out by herself. But she was determined only to travel one single station and then go back because she didn't want to spend more time. (Despite the fact that all trips cost 10 Baht, no matter how far you go.)

[The Enforcer!]

Great reports guys.

I turned up at Lumpini at 6pm (as per Bangkok Post advert) but was told (at 6.15pm) that it would be at least 7.30pm so I gave up!

Well I am an old man after all!

Will try later this week.

The Enforcer!

[The Enforcer!]

One of the biggest 'health' hazards I think you are likely to get is 'undergroundphobia' or fear of travelling underground.

I took a Thai friend of mine to the UK and France on several ocassions and each time the first few journeys on their respective underground railways set off panic attacks!

He would rather take three buses than a connecting Tube!

It just takes some getting used to I supposed, after all at 16 i was scared of flying!

The Enforcer!

[Wisarut]

July 3 - 45,000 Passengers
July 4, 2004 - 200,000 Passengers

This kind of Discrepancies is due to the fact that Subway OPENED only less than 5 Hour (19:14 - 24:00). Furthermore, MANY passengers just have joyride at the expense of crowding
Subway and collapsed kids due to dehydration and heatstroke.

This fateful weekend is VERY flaming! The rain comes out after Midnight.

[rhondda]

I made a journey on the underground at 19.30 on Saturday, and I was hoping for a display of better manners than is apparent everyday on the Skytrain - people crowding doors, and pushing and jostling, queue jumping and the like. Unfortunately I was disappointed.

What a shame that BKK has two world-class rapid transit systems and such third world behaviour from the passengers.

[forumadmin]

There was an unusual amount of jostling, but I saw it as genuine excitement and interest in the new system...

Even today it was fun to see the excited faces of those who appeared to be entering the stations for the first time.

[ttaaee]

How do we know MRTA reads 2Bangkok.com? - July 10, 2004

We had been told by our sources working at MRTA that 2Bangkok.com has been read there over the years, but we were still surprised to see a 2Bangkok.com photo incorporated into MRTA's flash intro

Busted...

[jpatokal]

So last week I finally had a chance to take a ride on the Bangkok Subway, or two of them to be precise: Hualamphong-Sukhumvit, and Sukhumvit-Kamphaeng Phet.

First observation would be that I was surprised how smoothly everything went: the only annoyances were the missing TVMs and the resulting queues to buy tokens, and people having problems figuring out how to use them. Signage, facilities, lighting and the service itself posed no problems at all, the trains came quickly and traveled quickly. Not much scenery to look at, so it's definitely a more boring form of transport... but maybe that's just a good thing?

The Sukhumvit-Asoke interchange works quite well, and I was glad to see that both BTS and MRTA noted and announced the interchanges clearly. The Chatuchak-Morchit interchange also looked OK, let's just hope they get the Silom-Saladaeng one sorted out soon as well...

All in all, a very welcome addition to the Bangkok transport system. Now if they'd only get the Skytrain extended and the Airport Link and the Purple and Orange lines running...