MRT (Bangkok)

First generation of Blue Line rolling stock

The MRT Blue Line[3] presently runs from Tha Phra to Lak Song and has a carrying capacity of 40,000 people in each direction per hour. Similar to the Skytrain, the Metro uses trains supplied by Siemens which travel up to 80 km/h (50 mph). Passengers can connect to the Skytrain at Si Lom, Sukhumvit and Chatuchak Park stations. The Blue Line has a large depot located on the large MRTA Headquarters in Huai Khwang district and accessed via a spur line located between Phra Ram 9 and Thailand Cultural Centre stations.

The 48-kilometer-long MRT Blue line will serve as a circle line for Bangkok's metro rail system, providing connections to all other major lines, including the SRT Red Lines and the Airport Rail Link. However the complete track does not form a circle, but rather a figure 6. So to ride the complete circle one has either to start at Tha Phra or change trains there.

Purple Line rolling stock

The MRT Purple line is divided into two sections, the first 23 kilometer stage from Khlong Bang Phai - Tao Poon which opened on 6 August 2016, and a planned 19.8 kilometer southern extension from Tao Poon - Phra Pradaeng.

The Purple line currently serves travel demand between the northwestern suburbs of Bangkok in Nonthaburi Province to the mid north areas of Bangkok where it links with the Blue line. Eventually, the line will link with the southern area of Thonburi in Phra Pradaeng District, Samut Prakan Province with a southern extension. This extension will serve the new Thai parliament construction site at Kiak Kai intersection and will run along Samsen Road, then passing through the historic old quarter of Bangkok Rattanakosin Island and many historical places in Dusit and Phra Nakhon District like the national library, Thewet market, Bang Lamphu, the Democracy Monument, the Golden Mount, Phahurat near Chinatown. It then runs near the Memorial Bridge over the river to Wongwian Yai roundabout before continuing south to Chom Thong and ends in Rat Burana District.

Innovia Monorail 300 rolling stock used on the Yellow Line line, approaching Chok Chai 4 station

The 30.4 km long Yellow line has 23 stations. It was originally proposed to be an underground and elevated rapid transit line, but that plan has changed to be built as an elevated monorail line.

In December 2011, the MRTA was instructed by the MOT to divide the Yellow Line into two Phases for tender and construction purposes and to control land appropriation costs.[13] In June 2012, the MRTA contracted consultants to undertake detailed designs of the Yellow Line. In February 2013, OTP stated that the tender for the Yellow line should be ready by late 2013 for tender in early 2014.[14] However, similar to the Pink Line, delays in finalising the technical requirements of the tender in relation to the selection of monorail rolling stock which determines the type of track to be constructed resulted in a significant delay. The subsequent political turmoil of 2014 caused further delay. Thereafter, the coup of May 2014 resulted in a new military administration and the tender being deferred for 2014.

The MRTA tender was subsequently not released until mid-2016. In early December 2016, BSR Joint Venture (comprising BTS Group Holdings which owns 75%, Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction - STEC, and Ratchaburi Electricity Generation Holding - RATCH), won the bid for the project. The BSR also won the bid the Pink Line project.[15] On 16 June 2017, a contract was signed for the Lat Phrao-Samrong section with the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand by a consortium including BTS Group Holdings, Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction, and Ratchaburi Electricity Generation Holding. Construction of the MRT Yellow Line began in March 2018, and free trial operations began from Hua Mak station to Samrong BTS Station in June 2023. Full operations began on July 3, 2023.[16]

Blue Line extension under construction

1. Bang Sue – Bang Phlat – Tha Phra (opened December 2019). It starts from Bang Sue Station, passing along Pracharat Sai 2 Road. It crosses Chao Phraya River and turns left along Charansanitwong Road until it reaches Tha Phra at Phetkasem and Charansanitwong intersection. The length is 13.1 km with 7 elevated stations.
2. Hua Lamphong – Tha Phra – Lak Song (opened 29 September 2019). From Hua Lamphong Station it goes along Charoen Krung Road, passes Wat Mangkon Station, Sam Yot Station, and then turns left at Wat Pho before crossing under the Chao Phraya River at Pak Khlong Talat. Passing through Itsaraphap, it finally enters Phetkasem Road and ends at Lak Song. After 4 underground stations, starting from Tha Phra the line becomes elevated for 6 stations. The length is 13.9 km. with 8.9 km elevated station and 4.8 km underground stations.
3. Lak Song to Phutthamonthon Sai 4 - 7.8 km, 4 station elevated extension (approved by Cabinet and tender delayed).

The planned southern extension from Tao Pun - Rat Burana will run south through Bangkok's old quarter from Tao Pun Junction on a viaduct. It then will go into an underground structure along Sam Sen Road, passing the new Thai parliament site, and transfers to the proposed Red inner-city shortcut commuter at Sanghi intersection. It passes the national library in Dusit District before it reaches Phra Nakhon District at Thewet Market.

The line turns east at Bang Lamphu and goes along the city moat to the south, with transfers possible to the MRT Orange Line at Ratchadamnoen Road near the Democracy Monument. It passes Golden Mount before possible transfers to the extension of the Blue Line at Wang Burapha near Yaowarat Road in Chinatown and the Phahurat textile market.

The line crosses the Chao Phraya River near the Memorial Bridge towards the Wongwian Yai roundabout in Thonburi on the west bank, with possible transfers to the Dark Red Line commuter and to Wongwian Yai. It continues south to Chom Thong, then on an elevated structure for 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) and ends in Rat Burana District, a short distance to the nearby Phra Pradaeng suburban town in Samut Prakan Province. The total length will be about 23.6 km, including ten underground and seven elevated stations.

The Thai Cabinet was expected to approve the Purple Line Southern extension in mid 2017 with a tender due by the 2nd half of 2017.[18] On 25 July 2017, the Cabinet approved the 101 billion baht budget and tender for the extension[19] but the tender was delayed until 2018 due to land acquisition issues.[20] There was a further delay to an early 2019 date as the tender was changed to a PPP tender.[21] However, a subsequent delay in finalising the PPP process resulted in a new tender date of April 2020[22] but this has been further delayed with an expected tender by the end of 2020.[4]

Construction contracts were finally signed in March 2022 for a planned 2027 opening date.

The area prepared for the MRT Orange Line platforms at Thailand Cultural Centre MRT station, interchange with Blue Line

The Orange Line will start from Min Buri as elevated structure on Ramkhamhaeng Road (former Suka Phiban III Road) from eastern suburb in Min Buri District and goes underground near Lam Sali intersection in Bang Kapi District, also transfers to MRT Yellow Line. It continues southwest along Ramkhamhaeng Road, passing Hua Mak Stadium and Ramkhamhaeng University. Then it turns to the west and crosses Pradit Manutham Road to the current MRT depot. Then it goes to Thailand Cultural Centre Station, the alignment crosses over and transfers to the current MRT Blue Line. It continues via Din Daeng housing estates and Bangkok City Hall 2 to Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Sam Liam Din Daeng Junction. Then turn left into Ratchaprarop Road towards Pratunam and turn right into Phetchaburi Road then interchange with BTS Sukhumvit Line at Ratchathewi Station. It continues along Larn Luang Road and Ratchadamnoen Road. Then it crosses the Chao Phraya River near Phra Pinklao Bridge, passes Siriraj Hospital and goes along Bangkok Noi Rail line and terminates at Bang Khun Non Station, interchanges with MRT Blue Line again. The total length is 35.9 km.

This Line is divided into 2 sections

• Eastern section from Thailand Cultural Centre - Min Buri (22.5 km).
• Western section Bang Khun Non - Thailand Cultural Centre (13.4 km)

The phase 1 Eastern section began construction in June 2017 with a planned 2024 opening.[17] The Phase 2 Western section extension from Thailand Cultural Centre to Bang Khun Non was released for tender on 3 July 2020 as a Public-Private Partnership project.[23]

When fully completed, the line will be 35.9-km long, mostly underground, with 29 stations (7 elevated stations for 8.9 km and other 22 underground stations for 27 km).

The 35.5 km long MRT Pink line will have 30 stations and will be a monorail line. It will run in the northern part of the city from east Bangkok in Minburi District (also transfers to MRT Orange Line) along Ram Inthra Road to west Bangkok (Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi Province) Chaeng Watthana Road and Tiwanon Road ending at The Nonthaburi Civic Center which transfer to the MRT Purple Line.

The line will also transfer with the SRT Dark Red Line, the BTS Sukhumvit Line extension to Lam Lukka, and the BMA Proposed MRT Grey Line in the future.

The Pink line was due to be tendered in the 3rd quarter of 2013 with construction due to commence in early 2014.[24] However, delays in preparation of the tender in relation to the selection of monorail rolling stock and subsequent political protests resulting in a snap national election in early February 2014, further delayed the Pink Line tender.[25] A subsequent coup in May 2014 resulted in a new military administration and the tender being deferred for 2014. The MRTA tender was subsequently not released until mid-2016.

In early December 2016, BSR Joint Venture (comprising BTS Group Holdings which owns 75%, Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction - STEC, and Ratchaburi Electricity Generation Holding - RATCH), won the bid. The BSR also won the bid for the Yellow Line project.[15] On 16 June 2017, the Pink Line project contracts were signed with the BSR consortium by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand with a scheduled operational date of 2022.[26] Construction of the MRT Pink Line began in late 2017. The line is due to be fully operational by June 2022.

The BSR has proposed a 2.8 km spur monorail route to link to Impact, Muang Thong Thani from Si Rat station which is waiting for approval from the government.[27]

The 22.1 km long Brown line is under study by the OTP. It is proposed to run from Khae Rai, Nonthaburi to Bueng Kum with 20 stations and be a monorail line.

The line was originally proposed as the Gold Line by the Pheu Thai party for the Bangkok Governors election held in March 2013. This was in response to objections by Kasetsart University to long proposed Expressway extensions in the area. The line would essentially have replaced the need to build an elevated Expressway.[28] However, the Pheu Thai candidate did not win the Bangkok Governor election and the Gold Line was dropped with the Deputy Minister of Transport stating that land appropriation costs were too high.[29] Subsequently, OTP has reworked the Gold Line proposal into a new Brown Line following much the same route. As of June 2013, the route was under preliminary study by OTP.[30] Public hearings on the Brown line were held in 2017. The MOT announced that a 14-month feasibility study into the line would be completed in 2018.[31] By August 2018, OTP had completed the feasibility study and conducted public hearings. Although, there was much public support for building the MRT Brown line, public opposition to the N2 expressway remained high. OTP intends to submit the project for Cabinet approval by the end of October 2018.[32] In early June 2019, the MRTA Board approved the investment plan for the Brown Line and integrated design with the N2 Expressway conducted by EXAT.[5] The project is expected to be tendered in 2024.

This line should not be confused with the original 2004 13 km MRT Brown Line proposal from Bang Kapi to Min Buri. This was subsequently merged in 2009 into an extended MRT Orange Line.