Bombardier Transportation has been awarded two contracts to implement its BOMBARDIER INNOVIA Monorail 300 system in Bangkok, providing a capacity of 400,000 passengers per day.
The two contracts will see Bombardier design and supply mechanical and electrical materials for two monorail lines, to be operated by Northern Bangkok Monorail Co. Ltd. (NBM) and the Eastern Bangkok Monorail Co. Ltd. (EBM), along with 72 of its four-car INNOVIA Monorail 300 trains.
Under the contracts, Bombardier Transportation will provide both NBM and EBM with project management, systems engineering and integration, testing and commissioning for these new monorail trains and systems.
“Bombardier is helping cities across the world address their congestion issues and these iconic monorails will be an important addition to Bangkok’s growing rail network, providing comfortable, quick travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers daily,” Bombardier Transportation’s president of rail control solutions and South East Asia, Richard Hunter, said.
Each of the monorail trains is to be equipped with Bombardier’s CITYFLO 650 driverless automatic control technology. The trains reportedly run at speeds of up to 80 kilometres per hour and will provide a maximum passenger capacity of 28,000 per direction every hour.
“Our driverless INNOVIA Monorail 300 system offers energy efficiency, sleek design, spacious interiors and inter-car walkthrough for superb comfort and enhanced safety as well as rubber tires for minimised noise and a smooth ride. Also able to handle sharp curves and complex environments, it is well suited to the high-capacity requirements of the Thai capital,” Mr Hunter said.
The trains will be built in China, at the Bombardier Joint-Venture Puzhen Bombardier Transportation Systems.
The contract with NBM will see the new 34.5 km Khae Rai-MinBuri (Pink) Line in the north of the city provided with 42 of the 72 trains, while the other contract, with EBM, will provide the remaining 30 trains for the 30.4 km Lat Phrao-Samrong (Yellow) Line running in the east.
Bombardier has now been operating in Thailand for 20 years, since the establishment of its Bangkok site in 1997.
“Falling in our 20th Anniversary Year in Thailand, it is truly a landmark milestone for our monorail technology to be chosen for these visionary urban development projects in Bangkok,” Mr Hunter said.