Six stations along the Yellow Line were temporarily closed on Saturday as the monorail operator continues to deal with two incidents that have affected service.
Train schedules for services between the Lat Phrao and Si Kritha stations and from Si Iam to Samrong station were being adjusted, according to a notice on the MRT Yellow Line Facebook page.
Six stations — Hua Mak, Kalantan, Si Nut, Srinakarin 38, Suan Luang Rama IX and Si Udom — are temporarily closed, the notice said.
Passengers wanting to travel to Si Kritha were advised to change trains at the Lat Phrao 83 station.
The monorail owned by the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Authority resumed limited service on Friday after an incident on Thursday in which some parts fell from the track between between the Kalantan and Si Udom stations. Several vehicles were damaged but there were no injuries.
Eastern Bangkok Monorail Co Ltd (EBM), the operator of the Yellow Line, said on Friday that an initial investigation found that a finger plate installed on the rail expansion joint had slipped from its position as the train passed, causing the plate and other debris to fall.
The operator said service resumed on Friday with adjustments made to train frequencies while technicians worked to repair the affected rail and equipment. EBM also offered 20% fare discounts for passengers until the service returned to normal.
Shortly after the service resumed, however, the line experienced another problem. A track switch on the system malfunctioned, causing a power outage at the Hua Mak station.
As a result, services from Hua Mak to Si Iam were suspended, leaving only two sections — from Lat Phrao to Si Kritha and from Si Iam to Samrong — operating.
The Yellow Line service between Lat Phrao and Samrong started in July last year.
This week’s incidents followed a mishap on Jan 2 when a wheel tumbled from the elevated track and struck a taxi on the road below.
That led to an order for the ball-bearings on the wheels of all Yellow Line trains to be replaced to ensure public safety.
Just a week before that incident, a section of conductor rail on the Pink Line monorail broke free from its beam and fell onto Tiwanon Road in Nonthaburi, damaging several parked cars.
Both EBM and the Pink Line operator Northern Bangkok Monorail Co are subsidiaries of BSR JV Consortium, a joint venture between three giant SET-listed companies: BTS Group Holdings, with a 75% shareholding; Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction, and Ratch Group, a major power producer.