The Yellow Line monorail had its first technical problem after 20 days of trial runs, with five stops from Lat Phrao 101 to Hua Mak temporarily closed for about an hour and a half on Thursday.
The issue reportedly occurred at 7am due to an electrical problem, the first such issue since the 23 stations on the line became fully operational on June 19.
Measures were taken to ease congestion at 8.28am and normal operations resumed at 10.15am.
Separately, the Department of Rail Transport (DRT) and other relevant agencies will speed up the process of improving signs showing the connection between Lat Phrao station on the Yellow Line and the MRT’s Blue Line.
According to Pichet Kunadhamraks, the DRT’s director-general, Eastern Bangkok Monorail (EBM) will improve the signs displayed at Exit 3 of the Yellow Line’s Lat Phrao station, while Bangkok Expressway and Metro (BEM) will do so for Exit 4 on the Blue Line’s Lat Phrao station.
The DRT also demanded the EBM increase the frequency of the trains due to the growing number of passengers using the line to get to Lat Phrao station, especially during rush hour.
He said that number of passengers has gone up since the line’s operating hours were extended from 6am to 9pm, from 65,511 people on June 19 to 72,807 on June 20.
To support growing demand, the DRT was asked by the EBM to increase ride frequency from every 10 minutes to every five minutes during rush hours from 7am to 9am and 5pm to 8pm, at least by next week, said Mr Pichet.
The 30.4-kilometre-long Yellow Line is interlinked with the Green Line at Samrong Station, the Airport Rail Link at Hua Mak Station, and the Blue Line at Lat Phrao Station.