Welcome to the Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Airport Train Link

The new Suvarnabhumi Bangkok airport train link is almost here; it is due to be open on December 5^th. This opening is to occur on a very auspicious day in Thailand as it is also the birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. This is a train service that is going to completely change the ease of travel for those traveling from the airport to the center of Bangkok. No more big traffic jams, and no more haggling prices with taxi drivers.

For the last few months there have been test runs along the line, and it all seems to be running smoothly. The train terminates in the city air terminal in Makkasan. Unfortunately the link does not connect smoothly onto the Skytrain service, at least not yet, but the terminal is close to MRT Petchaburi Station. It should only take a few minutes to transfer from one to the other.

There are rumours that the Suvarnabhumi Bangkok airport train link is going to be free for the first few weeks, and that after this it will be 150THB for the express train. There will also be commuter trains that will only cost about 30 THB. This is great value when you compare it to how much a taxi could cost in the past. There are quite a few ex-pats who feel no pity for the loss of business that these taxi drivers will suffer; the common sentiment seems to be that these taxi drivers have had it to good since the new airport opened. I can understand the argument, but when you compare the fares of taxis in Thailand to the rest of the world it does seem cheap.

The Suvarnabhumi Bangkok airport train link is going to be good for the country. I am not sure if it will make much difference to my life personally as I still need to drive; if they had a park and ride long-term car park somewhere along the way that would be good. Better still, if they could sort out a decent car park at the airport I would be a completely satisfied customer. The current long-term car park where you pay a fortune to leave your car roasting in the sun is a bit of a disgrace.