SKYTRAIN LINKS Railway Technology Web Pages - The website of Piers Connor, who did design work on the Skytrain. Want to know how a commuter train service is planned? How air-brakes on trains work? Need links to other railway technical sites? You'll find it all here. Railway Technology Web Pages - the Bangkok Skytrain - "A new metro system opened recently in Bangkok, Thailand called "Skytrain". This page describes the background, the design features and the operation, following recent visits." This site is very comprehensive and enjoyable to read... How the Skytrains were Imported The Freight Company, Ltd. recently contacted 2bangkok.com: "Our company was appointed by Siemens AG of Germany as the exclusive transport and logistics company (freight forwarder) for the Bangkok Skytrain Project. Our company was responsible for the transport of all the equipment for the Bangkok Skytrain from all over the world to Thailand. Moreover, our company was dealing exclusively with Thai Customs for the Import of all the equipment. Our Group also provided the warehouse facilities to store these goods prior to delivery to the project site." We hope to have a more in-depth account of the import and more photos soon. The Freight Company, Ltd. main page Photo galleries of the various gigantic items they have imported (including the skytrain) Info on their projects The Official BTS Skytrain site! The Thai-version is here and the English version is here. BTS email. The BTS Latest News page (in Thai only--it is mainly articles announcing their latest promotions and events) is here. Their phone number is (662)617-7300. Their address is Bangkok Mass Transit System Company, Ltd., BTS Building, Phahonyothin Road, Yatyao, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand. Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited - "July 1994 - January 2000 - Design and construction of an elevated heavy railway system including 25 stations, depot and administration building. The total length of the system is 23.5 km." - they are involved in many local projects - list of their projects Need a free shuttle bus to a Skytrain? BTS has good maps in Thai and English. The Groovy Map people have a nice Expressway/Skytrain Map. If you don't know this company, they make extremely practical and up-to-date maps with an emphasis on easy to understand public transport info. RMJM Thailand (formerly http://www.rmjm.co.th/NEWS.htm - now a dead link) - planned and designed stations for the Rama III feeder route and the elevated light rail system proposed to link to the main BTS system The Dawn of Modern Rapid Transit in Bangkok - This site's webmaster wrote an article about the Bangkok Skytrain for the German webzines futureframe and MorganWelt for a "Cities of the Future" issue. The German version of the article is here. futureframe's main page is here. Siemens - Main contractor for the projects. Siemens recently changed to a database-driven site which means inner pages are hard to link to and it takes a lot of searching to get to what one wants. Still, lots of good information. BERGER/ABAM - Engineering consultants hired to doublecheck all design work on the BTS. They also designed the J. Paul Getty Center People-Mover in Los Angeles. Railway Technology.com - Bangkok Public Transit - A good overview of what's being done in town. Metro Planet: Bangkok - An overview of Bangkok mass transit projects with a useful map. Who's to blame? (formerly http://www.nationmultimedia.com/special/skytrain/ - now a dead link) - A feature from a local newspaper from about a year ago complaining about safety problems during the construction of the BTS (i.e. things dropping on people). J. Muller International - J. Muller was acquired by Earth Tech. Some technical details and a description of construction methods from the designers of the project. Porsche Design - (formerly http://www.railway-technology.com/contractors/project/porsche/porsche2.html - now a dead link) A good drawing of a BTS train interior from its designers. American Society of Civil Engineers (ACSE) - (February, 2001 - this article appears to be gone- we've emailed them about it) The second article on the page is a rather pessimistic report on Bangkok's rapid transit plans. Subway page - On this page there are two Bangkok links with maps of the BTS and MRTA project areas. 2Bangkok.com Glossary Here are some of the acronyms and other terms that often crop up when reading about Thai mass transit. Note that many of these organizations' duties overlap. You can see where these terms appear on this site by conducting a search. You might also check the list of links that appear with each individual project page. If there are any we have missed, let us know. AEI - company that proposed constructing a high-speed train from Pak Tho to Donmuang BITEC - International Trade and Exhibition Center - convention center on the outskirts of town - http://www.bitec.net BKK - sometimes used as an abbreviation for Bangkok BOI - Board of Investment - in charge of promoting investment in Thailand - they can give special privileges for big projects - http://www.boi.go.th/ BMA - Bangkok Metropolitan Administration - 'City Hall' or the local city government - http://www.bma.go.th BMCL - Bangkok Metro Co. Ltd., subsidiary of Ch. Karnchang PCL - company chosen to operate the subway - http://www.bangkokmetro.co.th BMTA - Bangkok Mass Transit Authority - in charge of busses - http://www.bmta.motc.go.th - English-language bus routes are here BTS/BTSC - Bangkok Mass Transit System Company - company that operates the Skytrain - http://www.bts.co.th CBD - central business district CREC - China Railway Co. Ltd. - headquarters at Shanghai ETA - Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, controlled by the Interior Ministry - state organization in charge of expressways - http://www.eta.or.th (it is all in Thai, but you can run your mouse over the links on the left and you can see the English name of the links at the bottom of your browser) IRR - Internal Rate of Return - an investment term ITD - Italian-Thai Development PCL (ITD) - huge contracting firm JBIC - Japanese Bank for International Cooperation, a major creditor of MRTA - http://www.jbic.go.jp/english/index.php KFW - German KFW Bank, a BTSC creditors KTT - Krongthep Thanakhom Co.Ltd. (KTT), Bangkok Bank, financial arm of BMA - November 14, 2001-> Their hard-to-find telephone numbers are 66-2263-0461, 66-2263-0462, 66-2263-0463 (66 is the country code - dial 0 during the message for the operator. ) - The following numbers are also given, but no one answers - 66-2207-0200, 66-2207-0201, 66-2207-0202, 66-2207-0203, & 66-2207-0204 MFC - Mutual Fund Company - The website of MFC Asset management MOF - Ministry of Finance MOI - Ministry of Interior MOIndus - Ministry of Industry Monthol - Monthol (Circle) was a set of provinces -> according to the Administration Act of Ror Sor 116 (AD 1897). Monthols were dissolved by the Administration for the Kingdom of Siam BE 2476 (January 1934).] MOTC - Ministry of Transport and Communication MOU - Memorandum of Understanding MRTA - Metropolitan Rapid Transit Authority, under the Prime Minister's Office - state enterprise that is overseeing the subway construction - http://www.mrta.or.th MRTC - Management of Road Traffic Commission - office that is, in theory, in charge of the development of transport services, but actually has no power as most transit schemes are controlled by independently operating companies or government agencies MTR - MTR Corporation - consultant company with expertise in mass transit system business hired by BTSC creditors in 2001 NBIA - New Bangkok International Airport ngan - Thai measure of land - 1 ngan = 400 square meters = 100 tarang wah (100 square wahs) NHA - National Housing Authority - http://www.nha.or.th (September, 2000 - their website appears to be down - NHA often comes up since it is often proposed that housing projects be torn down to allow new mass transit routes go through since the government already controls this land) NESDB - National Economic and Social Development Board  - government organization that, among other things, figures the economic feasibility of projects - http://www.nesdb.go.th NIMBY - 'not in my backyard' NPL - non-performing loans OCMLT - Office of the Commission for the Management of Land Traffic - state organization that advises and makes plans concerning traffic problems and patterns - http://www.ocmlt.go.th/ OTP - Office of Transport and Traffic Police and Planning rai - Thai measure of land - 1 rai = 0.16 hectare = 1600 square meters = 4 ngan = 400 tarang wah (400 square wahs) RSR - Royal Siamese Railway (precursor to the SRT) RTAF - Royal Thai Air Force SBIA - Second Bangkok International Airport SEC - Securities and Exchange Commission - regulatory body for the Thai stock market - http://www.sec.or.th/ SET - Stock Exchange of Thailand - http://www.set.or.th/ SMCC - Shanghai Metro - China-based company that will apparently construct the Samrong extention of the Skytrain (as of April 2001) SRT - State Railways of Thailand, supervised by the Transport and Communications Ministry - runs the traditional railroads - controls the failed Hopewell Project concession - http://www.srt.or.th/httpEng/ TOR - Terms of Reference - an agreement between parties wah - Thai measure - 1 wah (1 tarang wah or 1 square wah) = 4 square meters