Operating in 190 countries, with nearly 500,000 employees, Siemens is actively involved in automation and control, power, transportation, medical, and information and communications.

In 1900, Siemens began their operations in Thailand through a partnership with B. Grimm & Co. Then in 1995, Siemens Ltd. Thailand was established and positioned as a serious player in its own right, offering an entire range of products, systems, solutions, and services.

In recent years, Siemens has strengthened its leading position in Thailand in three main application fields: energy and environment care, automation and control with industrial and public infrastructures, and healthcare. At the same time, Siemens IT Solutions and Services has successfully expanded its business to include external customer groups.

Currently, Siemens, together with B. Grimm & Co. and Sino-Thai, is constructing a 25.9 billion THB (approximately US$775 million) airport rail that will link the Suvarnabhumi Airport to Bangkok’s inner city.

In Bangkok alone, Siemens has worked on two other similar mass transit projects. In December 1999, Siemens completed the BTS Skytrain and in July 2004, they finished the first metro line of MRTA. Siemens remains under contract for both projects and continues to provide maintenance for the BTS Skytrain and the metro.

According to Mr. Ralph Hasselbacher, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Siemens’ Transportation Systems in Thailand, “86 percent of the overall progress, civil works progress, and E&M progress has been completed with most stations in close proximity to the airport nearly finished.”

Construction for the 29 kilometer rail is to be completed in February of 2009.

Following the completion of the construction, a 90 day Systems Integration Test will be conducted which will verify all the system’s interactions and interfaces.

After the Systems Integration Test has been concluded, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), the owner and operator of the airport rail link, will implement trial runs for approximately three months before officially opening the system to the public in August 2009.

Two different rail lines are being planned for the new airport rail link- an express line and a city line.

Marked with a red stripe, the more luxurious and comfortable express line trains will originally consist of four train cars, three for passengers and one for luggage. By 2037, the express line train will have a total of ten cars with an overall amount of 494 seats for passengers.

The express line will run non-stop between Suvarnabhumi Airport and the City Air Terminal, which is being built at Makkasan/Asok . It will take passengers approximately 15 minutes to travel in either direction.

Upon arrival, passengers will be able to check-in for their flight and receive their boarding pass at the Makkasan/ Asok (CAT) station. Luggage will be tagged, and both the passenger and luggage will be ready for their flight.

Although the Makkasan/ Asok (CAT) station is still under heavy construction, a roofed skywalk is planned by the SRT to connect the Makkasan/ Asok (CAT) station to the MRT, making it even more convenient for city commuters to reach the airport.

The blue striped city line trains will run between Suvarnabhumi Airport and Phayathai, stopping at every station along the route. The time of travel will vary, depending on at which of the seven stations the passenger gets on. At most, the ride will last 27 minutes from the furthest station, Phayathai.

Originally, the blue striped city line trains will consist of three train cars and by 2037 it will have ten cars, able to transport up to 2,500 passengers per train.

Initially it is planned that both trains will run from 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. in 15 minute intervals. Plans are already being made to increase the frequency of train departures and arrivals to a maximum of 7.5 minutes.

Bangkok’s new airport rail link is not the first of its kind. The project was actually modeled after Siemens’ Kuala Lumpur’s Express Rail Link (ERL) project which also links the city’s intentional airport to the city center. KL’s Express Rail Link was completed in June 2002.

“This new airport rail link is going to become the backbone of the future commuter network in Thailand. This railway system was designed in a way that it can be extended in all directions, even as far as Pattaya and Rayong. We would like to see this as the starting point for more express trains and an increase in rail lines all together,” said Mr. Hasselbacher.

Fore mone information: http://www.boi.go.th:8080/issue_content.php?issueid=43;page=3