Airport Link faces more delay

It is very unlikely that Airport Link can start commercial operations this April as earlier announced. The service now faces delays, possibly until August.

State Railway of Thailand governor, Yuthana Thapchareon, talked to the Thai press after visiting the project, last week, noting there are still three main areas that have not been completed.

They are: communications system between stations especially those that link the system to the police in case of security or safety related incident; installation of CCTV and gate systems at some stations. They will need to be certified by an Independent Safety and System Certification Engineer before the Airport Link can be opened for services.

After inspection, SRT did not approved the rail system and electronic and mechanic system contracted by B Grimm International. No reason for this decision was given.

More importantly, SRT has missed the deadline to set up a subsidiary company to manage the Airport Link. It has also failed to hire more than 30% of a required 400 staff who will be needed to run the service. They also require training.

Accoding to the original contract, the rail link was supposed  to be operational in 2008, but disagreements between the SRT and its union as well as delays in the handover of land for stations were the main culprits.