The fanciest MRT station in all the land is set to open for tours this year — though it won’t be operational as a train station until 2019.
MRT Sanam Chai, in Old Town near the Grand Palace, is designed to look like a Rattanakosin stateroom. Four of the new stations under construction are designed to show to the culture of the area.
This station is the creation of Pinyo Suwankiri, one of the country’s national artists. The station provides easy access to Wat Pho and Museum Siam, reported Khaosod.
Sanam Chai Station will be part of the Blue Line extension that will extend past the current terminal station, Hua Lamphong, to the eastern destination of Tha Phra.
On Wednesday, Gen. Yodyuth Boonyathikarn, chairman of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority, said that the station will be finished early and open for visitors before the 2019 operational date. He did not say exactly when it would open.
Of the other two Old Town stations, one is in Chinatown, near Wat Mangkon, or “Dragon Temple,” and the style fuses Chinese and Western elements with lots of dragons.
The MRT station at Wang Burapha, under Sam Yod intersection on Charoen Krung Road, will be done up in Sino-Portuguese colonial style.
MRT Itsaraphap, the first station on the Thonburi side, will be festooned with Thai swans to celebrate its position near Wat Hong Rattanaram Ratchaworawiharn, or the “Jeweled Swan Temple.”
The total cost of the Blue Line extension to Tha Phra cost THB20 billion.
