Metropolitan Rapid Transit, or MRT, is a mass rapid transit system serving the Bangkok Metropolitan Area in Thailand. The MRT system consists of three additional lines (one rapid transit line and two monorail lines) currently under construction and to be opened in 2022, and two rapid transit lines. MRT Blue Line Sue, officially the Chaloem Ratchamongkhon Line between Hua Lamphong and Bang, was the first to open as Bangkok's second subway system in 2004. The MRT Blue line is officially known as the rotfaifa mahanakhon (รถไฟฟ้ามหานคร) or “metropolitan electric train” in Thai, but more commonly the rotfai taidin (รถไฟใต้ดิน), literally “underground train”.
The second MRT line, the MRT Purple Line, officially the Chalong Ratchadham Line, opened on 6 August 2016 and connects Tao Poon and Khlong Bang Phai at Nonthaburi, northwest of Greater Bangkok. Bangkok province was the first public transit line to extend outside the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
Both the Blue Line and Purple Line are operated by Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited (BEM) under a concession granted by the Thailand Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA), which owns the MRT lines. Along with BTS Skytrain and Airport Rail Link, MRT is part of Bangkok's rail transport infrastructure. The two MRT lines have 470.000 passengers each day (Blue Line 400.000 and Purple Line 70.000), 45 operational stations and a total route length of 60 kilometers.
From mid-2011, construction began to expand the MRT Blue Line with an extension running from Hua Lamphong to the west via Tha Phra to Lak Song and to the north from Bang Sue to Tha Phra. Upon completion in April 2020, the Blue Line has become a semi-loop line around central Bangkok (providing interchanges with itself at Tha Phra). 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.
MRT Orange Line, MRT Pink Line and MRT Yellow Line, as well as other MRT lines currently under construction, are planned for the future MRT system. Bidding for a southbound extension of the MRT Purple Line from Tao Poon to Rat Burana was due to be held in April 2020, but was delayed until the end of 2020.[4] In June 2019, MRT Brown Line was approved by the MRT Board for an integrated design by EXAT with the N2 Expressway design. MRT Brown Line is scheduled to go out to tender in the first half of 2020, after final designs are completed by October 2021.
Map of Bangkok Metro
Map of Bangkok Metro
Last updated: November 2018
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