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BANGKOKS TUNNELBANA
Första fasen av tunnelbanelinjen är c:a
20 km och sträcker sig från Hua Lampong
(centrala tågstationen) till Ban Sue. Man kan
byta till skytrain vid tre stationer; Silom, Sukhumwit
och Mo Chit (norra bussterminalen).
Biljettpriset är 15-38 Baht beroende på
åksträcka.
BANGKOKS SKYTRAIN
Ett utmärkt sätt att ta sig fram i Bangkok
är högbanan, eller Skytrain som den kallas
eftersom den går på räls uppe i
luften uppburen av pelare.
Den fina utsikten får man på köpet
Biljetten kostar 10-40 Baht beroende på åksträcka
öppen mellan kl. 06.00-24.00
Tunnelbanan och skytrain är det
överlägset snabbaste sättet att ta
sig fram i Bangkok förutsatt att resmålet
ligger i närheten av en station.
PLAN öVER SKYTRAIN OCH TUNNELBANANS
LINJER I BANGKOK 
Those wishing to navigate their way around Bangkok
by rail can choose between the Skytrain and the subway,
but earlier generations had an alternative choice:
the tram.
Trams started puttering about the capital late in
the reign of King Rama V and kept on going until
1968. They first went into operation in 1887 as part
of a transportation business set up by a British
man, Captain Alfred John Loftus, and a Dane, Andre
du Plesis de Richelieu. Horses pulled the track-bound
coaches from Bangkholaem in today’s Sathorn
district to the Royal Palace.
The two entrepreneurs sold their company to a group
of Danish investors in 1892, and within two years
the trams were running on the new electricity grid
hooked up across the country in 1890 under the supervision
of Chaophraya Surasakmontri.
In 1900, the Bangkok tram company merged with America’s
Electricity Company Limited, and a new tram line
was built linking north Bangkok with Samsen.
The US firm kept running the trams until its concession
expired on December 31, 1949 and the operation was
handed over to the Interior Ministry.
Trams still received widespread popularity until
1957, when Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat unveiled
his grand plan to reform Thailand’s “backward”
habits and develop it as a country of high standing
in the eyes of the world.
Among his many schemes, Sarit suggested that the
tram was unsuited to “modern Bangkok”
and encouraged the city’s residents to use
cars, taxi cabs and buses instead.
The last trams trundled off Bangkok’s streets
on October 11, 1968 – and made their final
voyages into a few select museums. Among the surviving
relics is the one on display at Thammasat University’s
Rangsit campus, where it still manages to draw curious
looks from the young students.
NITHINAND YORSAENGRAT - The NATION
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