First delivery of airport trains received

Travellers who have landed at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport recently may have noticed, as they sped towards the metropolis in a taxi, a raised train track running parallel to the highway leading from the airport. Eight coaches for the electric trains that will carry passengers from Suvarnabhumi to Bangkok City Air Terminal. have been delivered and are now being tested for this rail service.

The project is just over 70% complete and is expected to be finished on schedule, despite a small matter of a further 9 million baht needed to finish the construction. This is according to State Railway of Thailand spokesman Bancha Kongnakhon.

As the fist 8 of 31 coaches arrive on site, engineers will familiarize themselves with the system that will allow the electric trains to hurtle passengers along at speeds approaching 160 kph. A computerized signaling system, reputed to be the safest in the world, will guide operations, with testing set to begin on November 9th.

The project began in 2004, on the watch of deposed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra with a 5 company consortium, calling itself Airport Rail Link Company, winning the bid.