Airport Link overloaded as schools reopen

Airport Link overloaded as schools reopen

Lines of commuters seeking to ride the Airport Link train snake outside the Lat Krabang station. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)
Lines of commuters seeking to ride the Airport Link train snake outside the Lat Krabang station. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)

All seven Airport Rail Link (ARL) trains are operating at full capacity to cope with increased passenger demand caused by the back-to-school season in Bangkok, Deputy Transport Minister Pailin Chuchottaworn said Wednesday.

More train services would help reduce passenger congestion at ARL's station platforms, Mr Pailin said after an inspection of the Airport Link's services. "We have received reports that after adding more trains, there is less passenger congestion during rush hour. We have also ordered these trains to arrive every 10 minutes instead of the usual 12 to 13 minutes per train," Mr Pailin said.

ARL has been facing operational problems. Run at financial loss, the authority cannot import additional trains. Currently, seven out of nine trains are functional. The other two are currently stranded as the ARL cannot afford to import spare parts from Germany. ARL repairmen need to dismantle spare parts from the two decommissioned trains to use on the operational seven.

Servicing around 72,000 passengers per day, the eight-station, 28km route to Suvarnabhumi Airport in Samut Prakan has come under scrutiny from commuters as it is severely congested during rush hours. By the middle of next year, ARL will have additional capacity, enough to take 10,000 additional passengers per day, when it adds four carriages cannibalised from the other decommissioned trains, said Sutep Punthupeng, deputy of Electrified Train Co, Ltd, the company that operates the ARL. For now, the State Railway of Thailand, owner of the airport rail link service, has to use a daily diesel train service from Ladkrabang station in Samut Prakan to Hua Lamphong to provide an alternative. It started in March.

Several regular ARL users have since converted to the service. "ARL sometimes stops people before getting on escalators because the platforms above are too crowded. At least, the old-diesel train staff will not stop you, which should help ensure you reach your destination on time," said company employee Schwalit Thititheerapab, 31, who boarded the train from Ladkrabang.

Nuttachai Waiyasutra, a 29-year-old government office employee who boarded at Hua Mak, said the diesel train service is far less congested than the ARL's.

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