The Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) has granted a third extension, delaying the Pink Line monorail project’s completion deadline by 345 days. August 2024 has been chosen as the new projected completion date instead of the original July this year.
The MRTA board chair and director-general of the highways department, Sarawut Songsivilai, stated that the extension approval for the line’s first 34.5 kilometers was approved on Thursday. The Covid-19 epidemic, according to the contractor Northern Bangkok Monorail (NBM), is the main reason for the necessity for a contract extension.
This is the third time NBM has asked the MRTA for an extension. At first, the project’s completion date was pushed back one year, to September 2022. But NBM asked for a second extension of 290 days, pushing the date back to July of this year.The delayed transfer procedure for the area selected for the building of Nonthaburi Civic Centre Station and Nopparat Station is one of the reasons for the delays.
The construction of floodways by the Highways Department may have an impact on the development of the TOT Station, Chaloem Phrakiat Government Center Station, and Chaeng Wattana 14 Station, Sarawut further emphasized the area’s complexity.The Pink Line’s construction was 96.43% finished as of the previous month. 30 stations make up the 53.4 billion baht monorail project connecting Khae Rai in Nonthaburi with the Min Buri neighborhood in eastern Bangkok. In Min Buri and at Wat Phra Sri Mahathat Station, the Pink Line will connect to the Orange Line and the Green Line, respectively.
According to Sarawut, the first trial run will start in January of 2019 and last for three months. Around June of 2024, full service is anticipated to start.
