That sound you hear is the other shoe dropping. Today’s Bangkok Post makes official what most of us have already known for a while: the new airport rail link won’t open on August 12 as previously announced by the minister of transport. Not only that, it won’t even be ready for test runs on that date, as previously thought.
The plan now is for public testing to start on 5 December – the date we previously thought full service would start. Regular service won’t start until March, or later, 2010. It isn’t clear from the news report whether check-in services at the city terminal will be ready by March, or if they too will be delayed another six months or more. That would mean it would be close to the end of 2010 before you could check your bags in at the city terminal.
Fares have been announced for the new link. The express train, running non-stop between the airport and city terminal, will cost 150 Baht. The regular train, which will stop at every station, will cost from 15 to 45 Baht, depending on the distance.