MRT

Metro system

The Metropolitan Rapid Transit or MRT is a mass rapid transit system serving the Bangkok Metropolitan Region in Thailand. The MRT system comprises two rapid transit lines, with a further three lines (one rapid transit line and two monorail lines) currently under construction and due to open in 2022. The MRT Blue Line, officially the Chaloem Ratchamongkhon Line, between Hua Lamphong and Bang Sue was the first to open in 2004 as Bangkok's second metro system. The MRT Blue line is officially known in Thai as rotfaifa mahanakhon (รถไฟฟ้ามหานคร) or "metropolitan electric train", but it is more commonly called rotfai taidin (รถไฟใต้ดิน), literally, "underground train". The second MRT line MRT Purple Line, officially the Chalong Ratchadham Line, opened on 6 August 2016 and connected Tao Poon with Khlong Bang Phai in Nonthaburi in the northwest of Greater Bangkok. It was the first mass transit line to extend outside Bangkok. Both the Blue Line and Purple Line are operated by the Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited (BEM) under a concession granted by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) which is the owner of the MRT lines. Along with the BTS Skytrain and the Airport Rail Link, the MRT is part of Bangkok's rail transportation infrastructure. The two MRT lines have 470,000 passengers each day (Blue Line 400,000 and Purple Line 70,000) with 45 operational stations and a combined route length of 60 kilometers (37 mi). From mid 2011, construction began to extend the MRT Blue Line with an extension west from Hua Lamphong via Tha Phra to Lak Song, and in the north from Bang Sue to Tha Phra. After completion in April 2020, the Blue Line has become a quasi loop line (providing interchange with itself at Tha Phra) around the centre of Bangkok. The first section of the MRT Blue Line extension from Hua Lamphong via Tha Phra to Lak Song opened for full operation on 29 September 2019. Other MRT lines are planned for the future MRT system with the MRT Orange Line, MRT Yellow Line and MRT Pink Line all currently under construction. An extension of the MRT Purple Line south from Tao Poon to Rat Burana was due to be tendered in April 2020 but has been delayed until the end of 2020. In June 2019, the MRT Brown Line was approved by the MRT Board for an integrated design with the N2 Expressway design by EXAT. The MRT Brown Line is planned to be tendered in the first half of 2021 once final designs are completed by October 2020. From Wikipedia