BMA to demolish Saphan Taksin Station, put in moving walkways
To relieve the problematic bottleneck on the Skytrain's Silom Line, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) plans to demolish Saphan Taksin Station and install additional tracks.
BMA Deputy Governor Amorn Kijchawengkul said yesterday that moving walkways would be installed from Surasak Station to the river, and the area underneath Taksin station would be turned into a public park and multipurpose area.
Executives of the BMA and Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC) have agreed they would install the additional track on the area used by the Saphan Taksin station platforms. They would also build a 700-metre skywalk with moving walkways to connect Surasak Station to the Chao Phraya River piers.
The Skytrain’s Silom Line constricts to one track at Saphan Taksin station, a bottleneck that causes frequent delays.
Amorn said officials would look into the concession contract regulations to see if station demolition was allowed or if they had to amend the regulations before demolition.
In related news, the BMA and the Metropolitan Police Bureau have reminded street vendors to strictly obey BMA regulations that prohibit sales on Mondays to ease traffic problems as schools reopen. Authorities will survey suitable areas for vendors to trade and consider whether they can increase or decrease the number of the trading areas on Friday after doing the survey.
