A master plan to counteract non-stop traffic congestion

Bangkok, a major business center, is preparing for the future by creating a new local public transport network. Sie-mens is supporting this megacity's efforts in many different ways.
It's not uncommon for babies to be born on the way to the hospital in Bangkok, given the notoriously congested streets of Thailand's capital. Every day, millions of cars creep bumper-to-bumper here on roads that were once canals. They are joined by tuk-tuks, or auto rickshaws, and motorcycle taxis that maneuver through the endless lines of vehicles.
Reducing Road Traffic
If not for public transport, the traffic system would have collapsed a long time ago. There are seven million registered vehicles here in a metropolitan area with a population of 11 million. As late as the early 1990s, residents of Bangkok took around 80 percent of their trips in buses, cars, mopeds or taxis. During rush hours, the average speed in the city center was less than ten kilometers per hour. Obviously something had to be done. Because of the lack of space, building new roads isn't an option in Bangkok. That's why the city's government decided to turn to public transport as a solution. The associated projects have improved the situation in recent years—and Siemens has played a major role in this positive development.

In 1994 Bangkok's urban and transport planners drew up an ambitious master plan known as the Bangkok Mass Transit Development Plan. The main component of the plan was the creation of more than a dozen new subway and rapid urban rail lines by the turn of the century. Although changes have been made to the plan since that time, its basic structure has been retained. In recent years, Siemens Mobility has designed and implemented the plan's first three rail systems, and these now form the basis for the further expansion of Bangkok's transport infrastructure.
A Bangkok Landmark
The plan's first major achievement was the Skytrain Green Line, which was completed by Siemens in 1998. The Skytrain runs above Bangkok's congested streets on viaducts whose height ranges from 12 to 30 meters. During rush hours, it operates at two-minute intervals. The Skytrain carries more than 700,000 passengers every day and has become a Bangkok landmark.
Siemens also built Bangkok's first subway line. The company was awarded the contract for the Blue Line in 2001. The line runs in a semicircle under one of the most important—and most congested—traffic arteries, linking the Chatuchak district in the north with the Pathum Wan district in the southwestern part of the city. Construction here was a little tricky, as Bangkok is situated in a lowland along the Chao Phraya River, which is the biggest in Thailand. The construction engineers had to make sure that no water got into the tunnel, especially during the rainy season. The subway transports more than 250,000 passengers each day. The two rail-based local public transport systems have expanded over time and now consist of three lines that run from downtown Bangkok to the north, southeast, and southwest, providing service to 52 stations.

Siemens also completed the Airport Rail Link in 2010. This line's air-conditioned cars now transport as many as 60,000 passengers back and forth every day from the center of Bangkok to Suvarnabhumi Airport, which is 28 kilometers away. The Skytrain, subway, and Airport Rail Link all meet at several stations. That makes it easy to transfer between them quickly. Thankfully, all of these projects have led to an increase in the average speed on Bangkok's streets and roads to 18 kilometers per hour.
Expansion of the Public Transport Network
Still, this won't be enough for the long term. The World Bank predicts that around 60 percent of Thailand's population will be living in the urban region in and around the capital by the middle of the century—that's ten million more people than live there now. The existing public transport network is not equipped to handle this, so plans call for an expansion of the network that will enable 60 percent of the population to use public transport by 2021, as opposed to 40 percent today. The Rabbit Card chip card, which was introduced in 2012, is making things easier for Skytrain and bus passengers. The card will soon be introduced for the subway as well.
The next major milestones in the Development Plan will involve the construction of 18 new public transport routes (subway and rapid urban rail) in two phases. The new routes will run from the center to the outskirts of the city, and there will also be a ring line around the city center. The first phase will require an investment of €8 billion up until 2019 for the expansion of the network in Bangkok itself; the second phase will cover the extensions to the outskirts and the surrounding region up until 2029. The plan is to gradually expand the rapid rail lines in the Bangkok metropolitan area to a total length of more than 500 kilometers, which is twice as large as the network of today. Siemens has the right portfolio here, as it can supply not only the rail vehicles but also the required signal and operating technology, the drive system technology, and the power supply systems. In addition, Siemens is able to deliver complete turnkey rail systems and provide maintenance services.

Number of Passengers is set to Double
Siemens has been active in Thailand since 1900. During the severe flooding that took place in Bangkok in November 2011, Siemens helped prevent chaos in the city by running extra shifts with its employees to ensure that the Skytrain continued to operate smoothly. Siemens also actively supports the education of rail engineering students at Thailand's leading universities.
Experts believe that passenger numbers will increase sharply if the plans to rapidly expand the public transport system over the next few years are successful. For example, the Skytrain Management department at the Bangkok Mass Transit System Company (BTSC) believes that the completion of new lines will double the number of Skytrain passengers over the next four years to a daily average of 1.2 million. Experts say that if everything proceeds as planned, Bangkok will ultimately end up having one of the best public transport systems in Asia.

Contract Extended to 2029
At least Bangkok doesn't have to worry about the reliability of the rail-based components of the transport system, because Siemens is responsible for the maintenance of the Skytrain and the subway as part of a series of full-service contracts. The contracts cover the trains, the signaling and signal tower equipment, the control center, and the entire electricity supply, including the power for the trains. The service contracts also include maintenance of the tracks, the depot equipment, repair shops, and building and communication systems. Siemens also guarantees that more than 99 percent of the trains will run on time. The maintenance contracts were originally set for five to ten years but were renewed in 2014 for another 15 years for the Skytrain and another ten years for the subway.
Whether they're traveling in the streets or on trains, the residents of Thailand's capital can look forward to getting around their city faster—and that's particularly good for women who are about to give birth. However, should they get stuck in traffic nevertheless, the city of Bangkok has a contingency plan involving a police motorcycle unit that was established in 1993. The unit is staffed by trained birth-assistance specialists who can make their way through the heavy Bangkok traffic to help. They've already delivered more than 120 babies this way.
Provided by Siemens