Bangkok Transit System (BTS), operator of the skytrain, plans to install platform screen doors at the nine busiest stations on its network to improve passenger safety, Bangkok governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra said on Monday.
MR Sukhumbhand said the company will first install four sets of platform doors at Siam station. That would take about 10 months, he said, but did not say when the work would begin.
The work will take time because the system must undergo trial use to make sure it works properly before being extended to the other stations.
After that, 20 more sets of platform doors will be installed at another eight BTS stations over 12 months -- Asoke, On Nut, Phayathai, Victory Monument, Sala Daeng, Chidlom, Prompong and Chong Nonsee stations.
The total estimated cost is about 600 million baht, MR Sukhumbhand said.
MR Sukhumbhand said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's decision to extend the contract with BTS for another 30 years had given the company the courage to make a long-term investment in future development for commuters' benefit and safety.
He believed the platform doors would eventually be installed at all skytrain stations.