Pictures of the Future    Spring 2006

Ticket to the Future

Bangkok is notorious for its smog and traffic congestion. But things are getting better. Instead of building wider roads, planners in the Thai capital have teamed up with Siemens to develop environmentally friendly rapid transit solutions.

Pawinee is sipping a flower-topped cocktail on a hot and humid Bangkok night. She’s surrounded by young Thai manager types, who are dancing to music. However, everything is drowned out by the noise from the street. Pawinee, a marketing manager, is waiting for some coworkers she’s supposed to meet at "Huu," a popular bar. As usual, they’re stuck in traffic.

The entrance to the bar faces a four-lane street packed with cars and motorcycle taxis whose angry drivers honk their horns as they try to snake through small gaps in the traffic. When the vehicles do move, it’s only for a few meters. No one who drives in Bangkok is ever able to say for sure when they’ll arrive at their destination—regardless of whether they’re traveling by day, when the roads are filled with workers and businessmen, or by night, when the fun-seekers are driven to the trendiest clubs. Bangkok is home to 6.5 million people—ten million if the surrounding area is also counted—and most of them seem to be constantly on the move. Pawinee Krueawiwattanakul knows all too well how it feels to spend hours driving just a short distance. So today she’s left her car at home to take advantage of a transport alternative that has been available in Bangkok for several years: the Skytrain from Siemens.

"The quality of life in Bangkok has risen considerably since the elevated train line went into service, and I’m using my car less and less these days," says Pawinee. The Skytrain travels 12 m above Bangkok’s streets at speeds of up to 80 km/h. Its reflection shimmers on the glass facades of buildings on Sukhumvit Road, one of the city’s most congested thoroughfares, where the average speed of cars has remained at around 10 km/h for several years.

Pawinee also travels this route to work. "It often takes me an hour by car, but only half an hour by train," she says. Every day, around half a million people use the Skytrain and a new subway, which was also built by Siemens. In fact, Bangkok’s entire local public rail transport system was built by Siemens. The Skytrain and subway are linked by several transfer stations in a system that is so effective that many taxi drivers now focus their attention on the train stations.

"Bangkok had been in need of a mass transit system for decades," says Dr. Anat Arbhabhirama, Board of Management member of the private company that operates the Skytrain lines. His office looks out over the depot and the last stop—for the time being—of Skytrain’s northern lines. Dr. Anat, who has lived in Bangkok for almost 70 years, still remembers the old local public transport system that was abandoned in 1968.

Bangkok’s Trademark. Strange as it may now seem, Bangkok was one of the first cities in the world to introduce a streetcar system, the tracks for which were laid back in 1894. As time went by, however, the tracks fell into disrepair as the city opted to invest in new wide roads. Finally, the tram was shut down. "That was an urban planning error," says Dr. Anat, who was a member of the Thai government during the time that more and more city highways were built on pillars in Bangkok.

Today he prefers elevated tracks to roads. "The Skytrain has become something of a trademark for Bangkok around the world," Dr. Anat says proudly. And of course it’s not just the locals, but also a great many tourists who prefer to ride in the air-conditioned trains from Siemens rather than be chauffeured through traffic jams in clattering tuk-tuks for an exorbitantly priced and grueling tour of the city. The drivers of these strange motorized rickshaws often wear surgical masks to avoid taking in too much polluted air.

The Skytrain has plenty to offer. The "Chit Lom" Skytrain station, for instance, boasts small shops, and at the "Sala Daeng" transfer station you can get a facial massage. It’s thus no surprise that the Skytrain’s popularity has been increasing steadily since it entered service in 1999. The Skytrain currently transports 300,000 to 400,000 passengers per day along its 23-km route. Furthermore, the train’s first system extension—across the Chao Phraya river—is nearing completion and is scheduled to open next year. It too will run on technology from Siemens.

"We knew from the start that it wouldn’t be easy to build a complex local public transport system without prior experience," Dr. Anat recalls. "That’s why we went looking for a partner with a wealth of experience—and finally decided on Siemens." What’s more, Siemens submitted a turnkey bid that allowed the customer to take over a ready-to-operate system after only 39 months of construction, with everything provided from a single source and at a fixed price. A long-term maintenance contract was also signed to ensure the safety, reliability and punctuality of the trains.

Building contractor Dr. Sombat Kijjalak paid close attention to the successful launch of the Skytrain—and later obtained the concession to build Bangkok’s first subway line. That train system began operating with 18 stations over a total distance of 20 km at the end of 2004. The line runs in a semi-circle underneath some of the city’s most important and congested traffic arteries. "We visited many cities worldwide and took a look at the best subways," says Dr. Sombat. "To build the system, we needed a partner capable of dealing with the enormous complexity of the job. We ultimately opted for a turnkey solution from Siemens, which we felt would make everything as easy as possible for us."

The package that Siemens provided for the subway and the Skytrain included signaling technology, the entire telecommunications network, the power supply system, monitoring systems, track work and the trains themselves. A unique aspect of the subway stations is the glass partitions that separate platforms from tunnels. When a train stops, automated doors in the partitions open to let passengers exit and enter the trains. "This increases passenger safety," says Dr. Sombat. "And the stations’ air conditioning units aren’t there to cool the tunnels." In the event of a fire, the cool air flow could be used to prevent a fire from getting out of control.

Flying Train. Because the tight timetable for building Bangkok’s subway system was shortened, it was necessary to fly in the first rail car from Europe for system tests. A photo of the train in the belly of a giant transport plane (see picture above) hangs in the office of Siemens engineer Reinhold Sarawinski, who is responsible for the maintenance of Bangkok’s two train systems.

As a service partner for maintenance, Siemens has remained active in both the Skytrain and the subway. During the first five years of its operation, the Skytrain exceeded all agreed-upon targets. More than 98.5 % of trips were completed with no more than one-minute delays.

"Because of this great reliability, the maintenance contract for the Skytrain was extended for another ten years," Sarawinski says proudly. To ensure such reliable service, the subway system control center is linked to the Siemens service and repair center. If a problem comes up, Nuttapol Sriprapai receives a message on his computer screen. He can then direct emergency teams stationed along the route to the appropriate location.

"But generally, we don’t have to deal with anything more complicated than a broken ticket machine," he says. About a hundred meters away—in the subway control center—are the operating company’s subway security officials. Nuttapol receives his messages from this room, which is equipped with video projectors that display a map of the subway network—and the movements of all trains—on a screen big enough to accommodate new subway lines.

Dr. Anat, Dr. Sombat and the city administration believe the network will have to be expanded soon. A master plan presented in January 2006 proposed a dense subway network consisting of ten lines—a big increase over the current three. The Airport Raillink shuttle from Siemens is marked in red on the Master Plan. This will link the city’s new airport, which is scheduled to open this year, with the city center 28 km away, bringing passengers to and from the airport in only 15 minutes. At the moment, pylons for an elevated line are being pounded in along an old narrow-gauge track route used by long-distance trains headed for Cambodia. Siemens will provide a turnkey solution including all stations and equipment here as well.

"Turnkey solutions often seem more expensive at first," says project manager Wolfgang Rueprich. "However, customers who place individual orders have to coordinate everything themselves. When they commission a turnkey project, they know they’ll have a partner who will take care of everything." That means no unpleasant surprises—such as higher costs—for the customer.

Siemens has now helped Bangkok adapt its infrastructure to its boomtown expansion in three projects—to the advantage of ordinary citizens like Pawinee. Eventually, one of Pawinee’s colleagues shows up. After spending an hour in traffic, he gets out of his car and walks the short distance to Huu Bar. Above his head, a Skytrain rumbles through the humid Bangkok night.
                                                                                                     Andreas Kleinschmidt