Bangkok’s Yellow Line monorail system to resume full operations on 10 June 2024
Officials say measures taken to ensure monorail mishaps don’t happen again
The Yellow Line monorail system is expected to resume normal operations from June 10 after repairs are completed on a broken conductor rail, a transport official said on Wednesday.
The repairs follow damage to several vehicles caused by the broken conductor rail falling onto a road below the monorail on March 28.
Measures have been taken to ensure such accidents do not happen again, said Montri Dechasakulsom, a deputy permanent secretary for the Ministry of Transport.
Mr Montri said new heat sensors have been installed and are being tested to ensure bolts used to fasten the line’s conductor rails won’t loosen due to overheating, as occurred earlier.
He said testing of the new heat-sensing system requires at least 10 days.
Mr Montri also chairs the government committee overseeing the operation of the Blue, Yellow and Pink lines, for which concessions have been granted to private operators.
The accident occurred after loose bolts resulted in the conductor rail falling off and landing on cars stopped at traffic lights underneath the elevated monorail track in eastern Bangkok.
The incident disrupted the rail’s electrical systems between Kalantan and Si Udom stations, forcing authorities to shut the line.
It reopened a day later, but the incident damaged one of the rails between Hua Mak and Si Iam stations, forcing trains to travel on a single track between the stations.
Mr Montri said the Yellow Line has been operating in a limited capacity, with tickets offered at a 20% discount since the incident. When it resumes full services, the monorail system will apply the standard fare again.
The Yellow Line operator will later confirm the June 10 date for the resumption of normal operations, he said.
The committee has also received a report confirming that security measures have been beefed up at all construction sites for the Pink Line’s spur to Muang Thong Thani, he said.
Two days after the March 28 incident, wet-mix concrete spilled off a construction site on the elevated tracks of the line’s extension, damaging a car and injuring one passenger inside.
The Yellow Line is operated by Eastern Bangkok Monorail Co and the Pink Line by Northern Bangkok Monorail Co. They are subsidiaries of BSR JV Consortium, a joint venture between three giant SET-listed companies: BTS Group Holdings, with a 75% shareholding; Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction, and Ratch Group, a major power producer.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2797515/yellow-line-to-resume-full-operations-on-june-10
