BEM aims for 20% profit boost from rail link
BANGKOK Expressway and Metro (BEM) Plc expects last month’s launch of the connecting line between its Purple and Blue mass transit routes to boost its net profit this year by around 20 per cent from Bt2.6 billion last year.
“Following the opening of the 1.2-kilometre, one-station link from Tao Poon to Bang Sue that connects the Chalong Ratchadham (Purple) Line and Chaloem Ratchamongkhon Line, we have seen traffic on the Purple Line increase from 30,000 trips per day to more than 50,000 trips per day,” Sombat Kitjalaksana, managing director of BEM, said yesterday.
“For the Blue Line, passengers have increased from 340,000 to more than 360,000 a day.”
BEM operates the Blue and Purple lines under a concession from the Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA).
BEM has already earned Bt1.43 billion in the first half of this year versus the Bt2.6 billion for all last year.
“In general, the company’s performance in the second half is better than the first half,” Sombat said.
Previously, with the “missing link” between the Purple Line’s Tao Poon station and the Blue Line’s Bang Sue station, passengers who wanted to transfer lines had to take a bus.
In March, MRTA hired BEM to operate the Tao Poon-Bang Sue link.
After the one-station link commenced service, revenue from the Blue Line rose to Bt7.72 million per day from Bt6.99 million per day before the link.
“This positive result will lead to a significant increase in BEM’s turnover in the second half of 2017 compared to the same period last year,” Sombat said.
BEM has ordered 35 trains at a cost of Bt20 billion as part of its development of the Blue Line extension from Hua Lampong to Bang Khae and from Tao Poon to Tha Phra.
The manufacturing and testing of the first three trains will be accelerated to serve the rising demand on the existing Blue Line by early 2019. The company will take delivery of 15 more trains in 2019 and the rest in 2020. This is a change from its original plan to receive 18 trains in 2019 and the rest in 2020.
The extension of the Blue Line from Hua Lamphong to Lak Song is set for September 2019 and from Tao Poon to Tha Phra for March 2020, but the company wants to commence service two months ahead of schedule.
BEM is also maximising the capacity of the existing Blue Line by running all 19 trains faster, adjusting schedules to cope with passenger volumes at different times and improving the maintenance team’s efficiency.
BEM targets ridership of the Blue Line, including the extension, at 500,000 trips per day and of the Purple Line at 100,000 trips per day, both by late 2020.
