BMA to Demolish BTS Saphan Taksin Station

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One of the strangest of the stations on the Skytrain network is surely the one at Saphan Taksin. Unlike other stations, this one has only one platform. To know which direction the train is going you have to listen carefully to the announcement. Only having one track across the bridge causes a bit of a bottleneck. This is only going to get worse as more stations open further down the line.

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Apparently this station was always intended to be temporary. I guess they thought not many people would use it. But it has turned out to be invaluable to workers in Sathorn and Bang Rak as well as people who want to change to the river boats. There has been talk before of knocking this station down to make room for two tracks across the river. But then they went quiet. Until now.

A report in The Nation today suggests that the BMA will go ahead to demolish the station. To make it easier for passengers to reach the boats, a 700-meter long moving walkway will be installed from Surasak Station to the river. The area under Saphan Taksin will then be made into a park. No timeframe for this has been announced. What do you think? Will this work out for the good?

13 thoughts on “BMA to Demolish BTS Saphan Taksin Station

  • January 7, 2014 at 4:15 pm
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    Can anyone tell us the latest news on this project – is it stalled or abandoned or ongoing?

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  • October 14, 2013 at 8:32 am
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    I truly believe this is an unreasonable reaction to a couple of minor inconveniences. Firstly, the so called “bottleneck”. What we are really talking about is halting one train for a few seconds to let the other train going in the opposite direction pass. I mean there must be a better solution to this than “demolish” the station altogether, wouldn’t you think?

    Secondly,I read in some inspired article that there is the issue of having to “carefully” listen to the announcement (both in Thai and English) in order not to get in the wrong train. And for this, the answer is “let’s demolish the station!.

    I keep reading that the Saphan Taksin BTS station was meant to be a temporary station. May be, but let us be honest about it. This was really bad urban development planning. And sure enough, to make a not so good situation infinitely worse let’s just simply take away what has become an extremely convenient service to the citizens and businesses of Bang Rak.

    There will be approximately two km between the Krungthonburi station and Surasak, with a vast number of commerce and businesses situated in between, including the river public transportation system.

    DO these minor inconveniences really justify the “demolition” of the Saphan Taksin Station? Can a station be built on the opposite side of the river? I believe the Sathon pier could be transposed fairly easily and also the repositioning of the station would only require minor adjustments from the numerous commuters/users of the actual ST BTS station.

    I also sense that the demolition of the station with no reasonable alternative will worsen the already congested traffic over the bridge, Sathorn, Charoen Nakhorn and Charoen Kung roads.

    Really some of the worse thinking ever. I hope someone will have the good sense to revisit this decision and come out with a more realistic and practical solution than “demolishing” the Saphan Taksin Station.

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  • May 8, 2013 at 4:33 pm
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    That’s nuts. That is a very heavily used station to access the river boats. Rebuild and make it larger I would understand, but closing it? Crazy.

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  • May 8, 2013 at 4:32 pm
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    The ground footprint may not, but the platform footprint would be and in order to service track currently occupied by the current station would mean building back into the road that leads up to the bridge.

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  • May 8, 2013 at 4:28 pm
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    A 700 meter moving walkway from Surasak? Really? As opposed to making a new station at Saphan Taksin? Presumably, in order to solve the bottle neck issue that the single track section causes, it will have to be made into a double track? So, why not still have a station there?

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    • May 8, 2013 at 4:31 pm
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      Because there is not enough room. Directly behind the single track station is the road leading up to the bridge.

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      • May 8, 2013 at 4:31 pm
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        Solving the bottleneck problem means making it double track. The ground footprint of a two platform elevated station needn’t be any larger than it currently is.

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  • May 7, 2013 at 11:04 pm
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    Hard to believe that an additional platform can’t be constructed for such a pivotal station at the river. A 700m moving walkway? With a roof to protect from the sun or rain? Really?? Sounds very inconvenient!

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  • May 7, 2013 at 9:46 pm
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    The physical station is not the issue … our illustrious leader wants a “Satarnee Yingluck” and, by Buddha she’ll get it 🙂

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  • May 7, 2013 at 9:45 pm
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    The station has a good value for tourism but the question is if that is worth the hazzle for all the commuters.
    Not an easy decision for sure.

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  • May 7, 2013 at 9:14 pm
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    The obvious solution would of course be to expand the trains to maximum length, six cars, so that they could live with less frequent departures. Unfortunately, that’s probably more expensive than just eliminating the station. Guess what is more important, convenience for the passengers or profit for BTS…?

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  • May 7, 2013 at 8:05 pm
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    A typical BTS solution: just skip the awkward Taxin station and let the bangkokians, the tourists and young and old people travelling with what ever they bought in Charoen Krung and Chinatown.
    Like we really enjoy walking from Siam to Chitlom station….not!

    Just like extending the train cars….not
    Or decent access for invalid people: yes we have an elevator, but you need to climb 4-6 steps first.
    Same with many escalators: first 3-5 normal steps.

    But opening a sideway to a shopping mall: sure, that brings money.

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  • May 7, 2013 at 8:03 pm
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    BMA to Demolish BTS Saphan Taksin Station

    It may well be the strangest station but demolishing it will only create more hardship to the numerous people both Thais and foreigners and tourists trying to get to the river boats. It has to be the best positioned station to the river and doing away with it will be madness. Surely they could build a temporary station out over the roadway on the opposite side to the present station buildings and then demolish and rebuild the double line straight through. After that they can decide the best way of creating a new permanent station.

    Can you imagine walking 700 metres to get to the river. The moving walkway will eventually breakdown.

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