The MRT is the first underground metro system of Bangkok and is popularly known as the Blue Line (identified so in the mass rapid transit plan for Bangkok). It has been built by a state agency, but is operated by a private operator under a 25-year concession agreement. An MRT expert was hired to identify the project within a 3-month period. This was possible because the Government owned a large land holding that could be used for the depot. A decision of the Thai Government in 1995 to underground all future MRT development in central Bangkok had a major impact on the design of the project.
The MRT system was opened in 2004. It has one 20 km long standard gauge (1435 mm) underground radial/distributor route with 18 stations. Three interchange stations provide links to the city’s elevated skytrain system (which was implemented as a Build- Operate-Transfer or BOT project and came into operation in 1999). The MRT and the elevated skytrain systems together form a loop around the central area of the city (see map of the systems in a slide). Similar to the city’s elevated skytrain system, the metro is designed for the operation of 6-car trains that can carry 50,000 passengers/hour/direction. However, currently the system uses 3-car trains and carries about 200,000 passengers on weekdays.
The MRT civil works were financed by JBIC ODA soft loans to the Government. A private concessionaire was awarded a 25-year BOT concession for the supply of equipment and operations and maintenance of the system. The revenue is shared between the operator and the project owner under a complex revenue sharing arrangement with a larger share for the operator in the initial years of operation. On an average, the operator would receive 55% of the revenue over the entire concession period.
The total cost of the project was US$ 3.1 billion of which about 0.6 billion was the value of the concession agreement awarded to the private operator. Financing structure of the project was: 80 per cent Government (under JBIC loan); 20 per cent operator of which equity 6 per cent, domestic debt per cent 9 and foreign debt 5 per cent.