seanthepilot

Here's the Airport Link website below..
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Airport Rail Link
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The Phaya Thai interchange sure looks ready





Pics of Makassan station are here

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whackyjacky

Thanks Sean, great pics. It should really help when your flight arrives during the Bangkok cluster****. Can't always arrange a convenient arrival time. I've even taken to hanging out at an airline lounge at BKK for 2 hours rather than sitting parked on the Tollway. What's going on right now, just test runs ? wj

MAN Flyer

Quite!.

Plato90s

Give me a nice long ramp, and who knows.

I assume the Makkasan station going to linked to the Petchaburi MRT stop, which makes it a viable connection to head to the Westin or the SGS. Doubt I'd use it for the LMBKK since Sala Daeng station is a fair distance over some pretty crappy sidewalks.

seanthepilot

Airport Rail Link provides train service at the maximum speed of 160 kilometer per hour on an elevated track parallel to the eastern railway, which covers the distance of approximately 28 kilometers, passing through 8 stations; Phyathai Station, Rajprarop Station, Makkasan Station and City Air. Terminal, Ramkhamhaeng Station, Hua Mark Station, Thab Chang Station, Lad Krabang Station, and Suvarnabhumi Station.
Passengers who wish to travel to Suvarnabhumi Airport have two options of service:
1. SA Express, a train service that transports passenger from City Air Terminal or Makkasan Station to Suvarnabhumi Airport within 15 minutes without stopping at any station along the way.
2. City Line, a train service that transports passengers between Phyathai Station and Suvarnabhumi Airport within 30 minutes and stops at every station long the way.


I don't understand the logistics of the express and local trains running on the same track.

They say the 4 express BKK-Makkassan trains will be a non stop, running every half hour and taking 15 minutes from point to point, running from 6am to 1am.

They also say the 5 local trains will take about 30 minutes BKK-Phyathai and run 24 hours.

City Line's fare start from 15 baht up to 45 baht, while Express's fare is a flat rate of 150 baht.


I don't know about you, but the 45 Baht fare is looking pretty good.

jpatokal

Easy -- there's a passing loop (extra track) about halfway through, usually at a station, and the local trains pull over and wait while expresses zip past. Works perfectly well when you have a dedicated track, and the same trick is used by eg. the KLIA Ekspres and the Haneda Monorail.

Especially since it terminates at Phayathai for easy onward BTS connections.

estnet

does anyone know if there are stairs? or hopefully something electric for those of us with luggage (even small ones) that are too heavy for weak people to carry up and down stairs.

A side note - on my recent departure the hotel concierge after being pressed, admitted that it was running now on a "trial" basis but was ONLY FOR LOCAL PEOPLE I would have tried anyway, but the limited hours were not convenient.

I REALLY regretted this decision after taking a taxi (which I have done MANY times in the past) and having the meter fiddled so it showed a fare about 80% more than normal - having taken this route many times and it was 4 am so NO traffic.

When I told the driver I wanted tourist police (of course none in sight, nor any security) b/c meter was not working properly he threatened me, grabbed my backpack off the cart and tried to get away with it until I shouted thief in Thai (or course no one responded), when he let me pay him (I gave him 200 baht for a ride that usually costs btwn 120 and 150) he threated to hit me!!!! All in all the worst exp. I have ever had with taxis in Thailand. I'd read about the pink taxis (this was one) and don't think I had taken one before and never will again.

I was feeling sorry for the taxi drivers loss of business when the rail link opened but this experience sure cured me of that!

canred

I took the time this week to find out how the new Airport Link will work. I took BTS to Phaya Thai station and the City Link to the airport, walked up into the airport and back to the City Link.

Observations:
* There is no connection between Phaya Thai station and the Airport Link. You have to go down to the street, walk along the street and then take an escalator or elevator up to the ticket hall.

* There are 3 levels at the City Link station:
1. The first above the street has no current function but could be tied into BTS if they spanned the 10 meter gap between the City Link section and the BTS ticket level. Otherwise, this level serves no apparent purpose.
2. The next level, the ticket hall, is reached by escalator or stairs. Security checks are performed at this level after the gates.
3. The final level is the platform.

* The City Link trains are very different than the photos shown of the Express trains. The City Link are very similar to BTS except the seating is bench-style i.e. not individual as in BTS and the depth of the bench is very shallow and extremely uncomfortable for this farang.

* There are no luggage racks. There is an open area at the end of the car that I guess you could put luggage or you could pile it in front of you.

* As the train did not stop at any station, it took 16 minutes each direction. The ride was relatively smooth and certainly didn't give the impression of the real speed we were doing (other than seeing that we were moving faster than every car on the tollway).

* Some of the stations are set up to have separate tracks for the City Link and the Express (possibly even all of the stations between the airport and Makkasan. This would allow the Express to pass the City Link. The express track terminates at Makkasan.

* The signage at the airport seems pretty good. One thing I didn't see was a distinction for the Express versus the City Link but I assume that will be in place when the Express service is running.

* There are moving sidewalks at connecting the lower level of the airport terminal with the City Link / Express ticket hall. They are the slowest moving sidewalks I have ever encountered.


Comments:
* There may be an elevator down from Phaya Thai BTS but I did not see it. I had to walk down a lot of stairs, first from the platform and then from the ticket hall. I had figured that taking the Airport train would be ideal during rain given how jammed up Bangkok traffic can get. Unfortunately, there is no way I could see to get from Phaya Thai BTS to the City Link station without getting soaked. Even when it isn't raining, you would be challenged if you had anything other than a light carry-on bag.

* I was glad that the trip lasted 16 minutes each way as sitting on those benches for 30 minutes would be challenging. Given the lack of luggage racks, you may find it more functional and comfortable to sit on your luggage. The Express train seats look much better.

* At the Phaya Thai City Link station, there are a lot of staircases and only a few escalators. This seems very odd to me given that it is on airport train where you would expect people to have baggage. I would have expected lots of escalators and a few staircases for backup.

* While we only "drove" through Makkasan station, I will say that it is massive. It appears to be an entire airport terminal. Not sure why they have elected to so much money on this but...

I hope that in the coming months, they will connect the BTS and City Link concourses. There is no indication that this will be done but it did take several years for Central Chidlom to be connected to Chidlom BTS so there is always hope.

allset2travel

canred & sean,
Thank you very much for the detailed reports. Keep the progress coming. Kudos to both ^^

Yaatri

I would say August. There are no Royal birthdays in May and June. Queen's birthday is in August.

That's a reasonable guess.

BKK's public transport is Ok. To put it among the best is an exaggeration. Link betweem different modes of public transport is either not there, or inconvenient. Bus stations are chaotic. For some destinations from the Northern Bus Terminal, you have to hike up flights of stairs to buy a ticket. Some taxi drivers, although do try to quote a fare that's at least 50%-70% higher than the meter. But, usually, if you insist, many would agree to using the meter.

sarming

I was traveling with hand luggage and decided to try this. Canred's report above is excellent and describes the issues. The train departs from a platform on the lowest level of the airport - one floor below the public taxis - and is served by moving ramps and escalators. Signs say "Train to City".

There's a ticket booth before the entrance gates and a lady gave me a paper ticket that said "free" and I walked through the open toll gates. There are two platforms with glass walls and doors like the Bangkok underground. I imagine one is for the local and other platform for the express train. Only the local ("City Line") is running. Signs said train will leave in 14 minutes. No seats so I sat on my bag. Train came in, unloaded and people piled on. As canred said, it is bench seating with narrow benches and no place for luggage. It departed exactly on time according to the electronic sign and climbed up to the elevated track. Stopped at all three stations where locals and schoolkids got on and off (hey, it's free). Stops were short and doors make a slamming noise when they close. Ride is not super fast, but we were going faster than cars on the freeway alongside.

We raced through Makkasan station (the future express train terminus) without stopping and went on to Phaya Thai station. I schleped my bag down the stairs, then a lady directed me to an elevator that took me one more floor down. One more set of stairs took me to the street where a muddy walk across some train tracks took me to the Phaya Thai BTS, which has the usual stairs up to the entrance gates. This would be an impossible exercise with heavy luggage.

It looks like there is a connection in the works between the airport train and BTS on the ticket level but this will take time and will have to have entrance gates because it leads into the BTS paid area.

Farang rumours in Bangkok suggest that the Makkasan station opening (and therefore the express train) is delayed because the limousine services are demanding a tieup to take passengers onwards from Makkasan station on a through fare or else to bar public taxis from picking up rail passengers.

Worth a try if you have light hand baggage and certainly safer than the long taxi ride. My last trip to the airport was a morning departure and I got a cab driver that was just finishing an all night shift. Driver kept nodding off to sleep on the highway at 120+km/hr.

jpatokal

Opening dates have now been quietly announced:

Commuter service: August 23, 2010, 20 baht
Express service: September 23, 2010, 50 baht

Both prices are promotional prices for the first year and will double or more next year.

estnet

Took the train from the city today-even though it took forever to get there b/c traffic it turned out to be a good idea as a rainstorm made the traffic even worse but it was nice and dry inside the train
The taxi dropped me on the "wrong" side of the street and indicated I should cross the overpass which involved more steps than I could possibly manage with luggage. I crossed the street despite signs warning of 200 baht fine for jay walkers and luckily I am small enough to squeeze between the strips to prevent people crossing.

The entrance is poorly marked and there are escalators BUT there are about 10 steps you must climb to get to the escalator! Train is clean ( for now), with the previously mentioned uncomfortable seats. It was very full with mostly Thais but a few tourists with luggage
Price was certainly right!

glennaa11

The Bangkok Pot has an article today about the new Airport Rail system. The tourism authorities are, of course, touting it as the greatest boost to tourism in forever. But the author does take the time to layout the biggest problems that will hold the system back.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/...ourism-bonanza

Personally I don't see this system as being all that helpful for most tourists. Since taxis are so cheap they are still the best option for most people IMO. Until they come up with a real urban planner in charge of this city you will continue to have issues like the disconnect between the airport rail system and the rest of the public transit system.

CrazyInteg

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It won't help many American travelers because we arrive so late and some transport is already closed. Besides there is not much traffic after midnight