After many years of waiting, Bangkok’s brand new Gold Line finally opened on December 16 2020, the newest addition to the city’s expanding family of electric train lines. By most estimations, Bangkok will boast around 450km of them by 2025 (subject to the shifting whims of Thai politics). Not bad for a city that, until […]
bangkok
Bangkok–Nong Khai high-speed railway
The Bangkok–Nong Khai high-speed railway is a planned railway that will connect Bangkok to Nong Khai in northeast Thailand on the Laos border. It will then be connected to the China-Laos railway in Laos, providing a railway connection from Bangkok to Vientiane, and onwards to Kunming in China. This new railway is a double-track standard-gauge […]
Chao Phraya Sky Park – Bangkok’s pedestrian garden bridge across the Chao Phraya River
There has never been a lack of ambitious civil projects in Bangkok. Often done in an effort to add beauty and/or efficiency to a stagnant area or system, they are usually opened with great fanfare and lots of smiling officials, and then quietly left to die an ignoble death once the hype dies down. Famous […]
One Bangkok – New urban development in Lumphini
One Bangkok is a new urban development in central Bangkok. This mixed-use development will include offices, retail space, luxury hotels, residences, and cultural and social spaces. The site will include a 430-metre, 90-storey signature tower. This enormous parcel of land was previously the site of the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, providing a rare opportunity to […]
Comparison of cost and construction times of first metro lines in Asia
The first metro lines of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are under construction, and like most first lines of a metro system, they are delayed and over budget. Line 2A of the Hanoi Metro was originally planned to be operational by 2016, while the first metro line in Ho Chi Minh City had an […]
Ten ways to improve Bangkok
Bangkok has changed a lot since I got here in 2001. Back then the skytrain wasn’t yet 2 years old, and the city’s first subway line was still 3 years off. The capital was littered with rusty remains of office towers, remnants of the 1997 financial crash, and international food options were basically pizza and […]
Future Bangkok – current and proposed construction projects
Bangkok is experiencing a building boom that is transforming the ever-evolving city skyline. Bangkok was the most visited city in the world in 2017, which is fuelling new hotel construction. It’s also become a favoured city for international investors to own luxury apartments. Bangkok is also the most primate city in the world (when the […]
