Status Approved Stations 30 (planned) | Termini Khae RaiMin Buri Electrification Third rail | |
Locale | ||
Bangkok mrt pink line
The Pink MRT line is a planned elevated mass rapid transit line to be built in Bangkok, Thailand.
Contents
The 35.5 km long 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 Bangkok along Ram Inthra Road to west Bangkok(Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi Province)
Chaeng Watthana Road and Tiwanon Road ending at The Nonthaburi Government Center. At the terminus there will be an interchange with the currently under construction MRT Purple Line and the proposed MRT Brown Line which is currently under evaluation.
The line will also transfer with the SRT Dark Red Line which is under construction, the planned BTS Sukhumvit Line extension to Lam Lukka, the planned BMA Grey Line in the future and interchange with the MRT Orange Line. As such, it will be an important cross city link in the northern area of Bangkok & Nonthaburi linking 5 lines along a major transport corridor.
List of planned stations
Originally, the line was to have 24 stations, 4 of which will be transfer stations and 2 of which will be "park & ride" stations. However, 6 new stations were added in mid 2012 for a total of 30 stations.
The line will also have 2 additional service stations for train maintenance.
Progress
The Pink Line was originally intended to be a heavy rail line but this was changed to dual-track monorail in 2008 on the basis that construction costs would be cheaper. The director-general of the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning had previously stated said in an interview that the pink line was considered a priority scheme to be completed by 2017-18, as it ran past the then recently opened Government Complex. A review in early 2012 was undertaken to consider the heavy rail option again. However, it was decided to proceed with the mono rail plan on the basis that the overall cost would be cheaper than heavy rail. The review of the line also resulted in the addition of 6 extra stations. The environmental impact assessment for the MRT Pink Line was finalised in late 2012. In late 2012, a request to extend the planned line east by 3.4 km from the Minburi terminus along Suwinthawongse rd to Nong Chok was submitted. However, this will not be implemented at this stage. The expected cost of the line with the additional 6 extra stations is 55 billion baht.
The Pink line was due to be tendered in the 3rd quarter of 2013 with construction due to commence in early 2014. 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 Feb 2014, further delayed the Pink Line tender. A subsequent coup in May 2014 resulted in a new military administration and the tender being deferred for 2014. More likely, the tender will not be ready until mid 2015 according to the MRTA.
