By Graham K. Rogers

This morning, Valentine's Day 2013, the newest station on the BTS system in Bangkok opened: Thalad Phlu. As this station is within walking distance of where I live, and I have been watching construction over the last 12 months or so, I was pleased to see this finally come into service.

The line has terminated at the wrongly-named Wongwian Yai Station for the last couple of years, although the concrete was complete for most of the rest of the planned route. This may be seen on Google Maps and the Apple iOS Maps App. Both still show flat concrete where lines have been down for months and trains are now running.

Pho Nimit and Thalad Phlu, the next two stations after Wongwian Yai were initially due to open on 10 December, but that was over-ambitious and was clearly not going to happen. Around the middle of January, Pho Nimit was opened and a shuttle train operated the one stop between it and Wongwian Yai.

Although I have spotted train running, usually around 3 am, last weekend, I saw that a six car train (2 x 3-car units) was running regularly into the station here. Although parts of the station were not complete, I checked in case a basic service had begun, but approaching the stairs at Rachadapisek Road showed me that this was just testing. I also saw a sign that indicated the service was to start on 14 February, although at least one Facebook comment suggested this was impossible: signalling was complete, but the station would never be done on time.

The impossible takes time, miracles take a little longer.

This morning it was clear that the service was running and a number of people could be seen on the (from here) far platform. I walked round just after 10:15 and one set of stairs was in use near the Rachadapisek/Rajapreuk Road entrance.

I walked up and came face to face with a BTS management team examining some of the details of the construction. Owing to the proximity of a slip road for Rajapreuk Road, the main administration and access area of the station is built to one side, rather than centralised. This gives it a far more spacious feel to it. A couple of coffee shops will fix that, but there is plenty of space to operate in.

The exit signs indicate The Mall, Tha Phra (where I came in) and Thoed Thai 33, a soi which runs at the back of my condominium, so I will be trying that soon as it may also give access to a u-turn road. This will obviate the need to cross 5 lanes of traffic to get to the station.

A mini-skywalk is still under construction. This will reach Rachadapisek Road, but will not cross to the BRT station, nor give safe access to The Mall. The sole footbridge for The Mall is sometimes dangerously overcrowded, while crossing the road by foot has its own risks, despite traffic light control, because of the number of lanes and directions from which traffic can come.

Trains currently run in a 6-car format: two units together. There is plenty of space for passengers for the short journey to Wongwian Yai, where passengers alight and cross to the other platform for journeys to Siam and elsewhere.

I checked the times as I travelled:

• 1015 leave room (delayed waiting for lift as usual)
• 1022 arrive outside station
• 1025 on platform
• 1030 depart
• 1032 Pho Nimit
• 1034 Wongwian Yai
• 1036 Depart
• 1050 Siam

At present there is no charge for the new section, although to gain access to trains, passengers need some form of ticket. Most passengers have the Rabbit Card or some other form of automatic ticket. There are ticket machines at the lower level of the station, and some of these are the newer type that take notes, not just coins. There are plenty of staff on hand, but these were not at all obtrusive as can occur at some stations.

My journey into town has just been made considerably easier, in terms of access and time. It is also cheaper by 50 baht each way, and I no longer need to play the taxi driver lottery.

The next station on the line, Wuttakat, has started construction, although the terminus at the intersection of Petchkasem Road and Rajapreuk is well under way, it is likely to be several months before that is complete.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.