Nine carriages that will form three trains on Bangkok's Purple Line arrived from Japan on Friday for the new electric railway extension scheduled to open next August.
Chula Sukmanop, director-general of the Marine Department, said the new carriages arrived from Yokohama on the Thai-registered TMN Progress vessel at Laem Chabang port in Chon Buri province at 9am Friday.
Bangkok Metro Plc (BMCL), the system operator that holds the concession from the state-run Mass Rapid Transit Authority, ordered the trains from its supplier, a Marubeni-Toshiba joint venture. The supplier had the trains produced at the plant of Japan Transport Engineering Co (J-Trec) in Yokohama. The trains will be transported to a depot at the Khlong Bang Phai station in Nonthaburi province.
BMCL has ordered a total of 21 trains comprising 63 carriages for the Purple Line that stretches 23 kilometres from Bang Yai district in Nonthaburi to Bang Sue district in Bangkok.
Test runs of the new line are expected to begin late this year and service is scheduled to start in August 2016.