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The Bangkok Mass Transit System, commonly known as the BTS or the Skytrain ((タイ語:รถไฟฟ้า) ''rot fai fa''), is an elevated rapid transit system in Bangkok, Thailand. It is operated by Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company Limited (BTSC) under a concession granted by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). The system consists of 34 stations along two lines: the Sukhumvit Line running northwards and eastwards, terminating at Mo Chit and Bearing respectively, and the Silom Line which serves Silom and Sathon Roads, the central business district of Bangkok, terminating at the National Stadium and Bang Wa. The lines interchange at Siam Station and have a combined route length of . The system is formally known as the Elevated Train in Commemoration of HM the King's 6th Cycle Birthday (). Besides the BTS, Bangkok's rapid transit system includes the underground railway line MRT, and the elevated Suvarnabhumi Airport Link (SARL), serving several stations in the city before reaching the airport. ==History== Bangkok's first attempt at building an elevated rail network was the Bangkok Elevated Road and Train System (BERTS), which was terminated in 1998 after only 10 percent had been completed. The BTS system (the elevated metro system owned by Bangkok Metropolitan Administration) was initially referred to as the ''Lavalin Skytrain'' because designed using the Vancouver SkyTrain as a model, adopting technology developed by SNC-Lavalin. Due to political interference, the concession with Lavalin was cancelled in 1992, in spite of Bangkok's chronic traffic congestion. The Thai Government focused on increasing road and expressway infrastructure in an attempt to combat congestion. However, this had less than the desired impact as the number of cars on the road increased dramatically. The lines considered under the Skytrain project became later the basis for the MRT system and are mainly underground. In the early 1990s, foundations and a viaduct for the Lavalin Skytrain were constructed in the middle of the Phra Pok Klao Bridge which crosses the Chao Phraya River. (The planned metro bridge remains unused but may be utilised as part of the MRT's future Purple Line). Shortly after it became clear that the Lavalin Skytrain had stalled, then-governor Major General Chamlong Srimuang asked his deputy, Captain Kritsada Arunwong na Ayutthaya, to create a new feeder system with a route along Sukhumvit and Silom Roads. Krisda, who in the same period was elected governor, and his team from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) managed to find an investor to build it. Krisda also convinced all to let the city supervise the project. The investor founded the Bangkok Transit System Corporation (BTSC) and this company successfully financed the system and grew it from a feeder system to a full mass transit project. Thanayong Public Company Limited (, (タイ語:บริษัท ธนายง จำกัด (มหาชน))) had a 28.21 percent stake in BTSC when the Skytrain began, and therefore in its early days the system was sometimes referred to as the "Thanayong Skytrain". Siemens, the supplier of the railway technology, and the Thai contractor, Italian Thai Development, built the system for BTSC. The "Skytrain" name was bestowed later by the press following the Vancouver example where the elevated metro had been named Skytrain. Originally, the Skytrain depot was to be built underneath Lumphini Park, but due to widespread objections from Bangkok residents it was constructed on a parcel of land on Phahonyothin Road, replacing the old northern/northeastern bus terminal (Mo Chit). The current depot at Mo Chit is a part of the proposed "Bangkok Terminal" project, where a large complex composed of a new regional bus terminal, park and ride facility, and other commercial development can be built directly above it. The Skytrain system was officially opened on 5 December 1999 by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. It initially had lower-than-predicted ridership, with 200,000 passenger trips per day. Ticket revenue was only enough to meet the trains' operating cost, and not sufficient to service construction loans. However, the Skytrain's daily passenger numbers have steadily increased since then. On 9 December 2005, more than 500,000 single trips were made on the Skytrain on a single day for the first time. By September 2012, the Skytrain served around 600,000 passengers on an average day, increasing to 650,000 on an average weekday in 2013. A record 760,000 passengers traveled on Sunday, 22 December 2013, a day of mass political protest in Bangkok.〔'Trains gain as rallies clog roads', ''Bangkok Post'', 26 December 2013〕 The normal Sunday average is 400,000 passengers. The BTS currently has a fleet of 51 four-car trains. The company implemented a contactless ticketing system in 2007 named "BTS SmartPass", and initially planned to permit BTS and Airport Link passengers to use their RFID smart cards in a single ticketing system. A single ticketing platform for the BTS, MRT, and ARL was to be implemented by late-2015. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「BTS Skytrain」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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