If you were counting the days until you could speed between Thammasat’s Rangsit campus and downtown on metro rail, you’ll have to add a few hundred more to go.
The long-delayed and dramatically named “Dark Red Line” between Bang Sue and Rangsit is way behind schedule and won’t possibly open until 2018 at the earliest, according to Transport Minister Prajin Juntong, making for a fresh delay of at least one year.
Called by some the “Hopewell revival” for hewing to a route similar to that of those abandoned concrete pillars of the original Hopewell project, which suffered an ugly end when everything went south in the late ‘90s, the project has been plagued with setbacks.
After being approved in 2010 with the help of THB24 billion from Japan, much of nothing happened for nearly three years due to contract disputes, then for months crews couldn’t get to work because of pesky residents who needed to be evicted from its path.
Photo: Royal Thai Police
Successive redesigns and changes have been blamed for further delays and ballooning costs. Not to mention all the enormous, World War II-era bombs they keep digging up. Recent estimates put the price tag at THB60 billion, but three more years is a long time for that to change.
The Bang Sue station has barely begun and the whole thing now stands about 20 percent behind its behind-schedule schedule, according to Bangkok Post.
When it’s finished, the Bang Sue-Rangsit portion will service four stations (two more to come online later) along track stretching 21.6 kilometers.
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