Talk:BTS Skytrain

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Thailand Mid‑importance

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MRT vs BTS

The official name for the Metro is MRT (Mass Rapid Transit). It is operated by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) and operated by Bangkok Metro PLC (BMCL).

The MRTA is a state agency under the MOT (Ministry of Transport), formerly known as the Ministry of Transport and Communication or MOTC.

The official name for the Skytrain is BTS (Bangkok Masss Transit System). It is operated by Bangkok Mass Transit System PLC (BTSC) under a concession granted by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).

The BMA is local governing body under the Ministry of Interior.

The Metro and the Skytrain (not SkyTrain) is used for less official purposes such as in marketing.

Note that the followings are names that are not official: Subway, Bangkok Underground, Thanayong Skytain...

The Metro should be referred as the MRT, not MRTA.

MRT station names which are frequently misspelled:

Si Lom not Silom – Si Lom is the official version of how this name is spelled, but because it has been spelled incorrectly for many decades, most people use Silom (also because it looks more trendy). The Skytrain uses Silom Line.
Chatuchak Park (remember the word Park too) – Officially, it is spelled as Chatu Chak, but for the same reason as the name Si Lom, Chatuchak is now widely accepted. Note that Jatujak (JJ) is the layman's version of it because farangs can pronounce it more accurately, but since it is not official, use Jatujak only when really neccessary.
Thailand Cultural Centre – Centre, not Center. The same goes to Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC)
Khlong Toei – not Khlong Toey; not Klong Toey.
Lumphini – not Lumpinee
Hua Lamphong – not Hua Lumpong, Hua Lampong or Hualamphong.
Kamphaeng Phet – not Kampaengphet or Kamphaengpet.
Lat Phrao – not Lad Prao, Lat Prao, Lard Praw nor Laad Praw. Do not follow the spelling used by Central Plaza Lad Prao.
Phahon Yothin – not Phaholyothin or Phahol Yotin.

The title "station names which are frequently misspelled" is misleading : it suggests that there is an official spelling or transcription system, which is not true. The names used are written in a more or less random transcription system i.e. the different people in charge just choose some spelling as they see fit. So that is why there is an MRT station spelled "Si Lom" but the skytrain line spells it "Silom". One is not more or less correct than the other : the only correct spelling uses the Thai writing (which would in fact favour "Silom" as spelling, as there are no spaces between "si" and "lom" in Thai). The English spelling is just an approximation of the sound for the benefit of those foreigners who can't read Thai, and is next to useless when dealing with Thai people. In fact, foreigners who can read Thai are far better off with the exact Thai writing of a place name, than with the English version of the name.

The spelling used in the light rail systems (BTS & MRT) is not as random as suggested above. It follows strictly the Royal Thai General System of Transcription. Only the division into words by spaces is not specified precisely in that system. −Woodstone 11:07, 17 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

BTS station names which are frequently misspelled:

Chit Lom – not Chidlom nor Chid Lom. Do not follow the spelling used by Central Chidlom.
Sala Daeng – not Saladaeng or Saladang.
Thong Lo – not Thong Lor.
On Nut – not Onnuch, not Onnut nor Onnooch.
Ekkamai – not Ekamai. It must be double k.
Asok – not Asoke.
Chong Nonsi – not Chong Nonsee nor Chong Nonzi.
Saphan Taksin – not Thaksin (not named after the Prime Minister). It's named after King Taksin.
Ari – not Aree.
Mo Chit – not Mor Chit nor Morchid.
Phra Khanong – not Prakanong nor Pra Khanong.

Mo Chit is spelled Mochit on some signs throughout the BTS system - particularly those saying "To Mochit" at some Sukhumvit Line Stations indicating which direction the train is going from the platform on which the sign is on. Dantilley (talk) 06:13, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Lavalin Foundations

At two bridges of the Chao Phraya river built in the early 1990s the foundations for the Lavalin skytrain were added. The one at the Taksin bridge has now been used to built the extension of the Silom line to Thonburi, which might get finished in 2005. The ones at the Memorial bridge remain unused.

Is there a source for this? My understanding is that the Taksin extension is piggybacking on Phaseecharoen Elevated Way foundations, not Lavalin, which was terminated before anything at all was built. -- Jpatokal 04:02, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Yes, it is using that one on the Thonburi side, however the foundations over the Chao Phraya river are those originally built for Lavalin, as Taksin bridge was built when Lavalin was still alive. You can find it (with pictures) at [1] andy 08:14, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)

To my knowledge (I've asked someone who has worked on the Lavallin project at the time), the canadian company has never build anything related to this project. So my question is who built this? I'm also surprised there's nothing about the ill-faited Hopewell Project on this article which fondation can be seen along the highway to the Don Muang airport (I suppose we're not talking about the Hopewell Foundations here). (MG) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.203.1.9 (talk) 16:54, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Translation

Can someone please explain what this (รถไฟฟ้าเฉลิมพระเกียรติ 6 รอบ พระชนมพรรษา ) means, for those of us who don't know Thai? - 24.85.187.55, June 10, 2005

Answer : that the skytrain is in commemeration of the King's 72nd birthday (6 cycles of 12 years)

Linking

This article seems to contain many redundant/duplicate links. Should all stations be linked in anticipation of an article? (That's a lot of red links.) And how should the "link only the first instance of the subject" apply?--Paul C 22:23, 1 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed most of the links for the station names. I believe the station names should link to articles on the stations themselves, which may not be worth creating anyway, and that links to articles concerning places that bear the same names may be added by mentioning the places' relationship to the stations first.--Paul C 20:31, 1 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, I have never seen the point in linking these stations anyway, as they are not (yet) notable IMHO. Subway stations in NY or Paris are a different story, those exist for many decades and already have a history by themselve, or have architectural specialities. However red links are nothing bad in themselves, that shouldn't be the sole reason to remove these links. andy 17:06, 9 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Power

Is this electric? Midgley 11:28, 28 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It is. (รถไฟฟ้า actually translates to electric train.)--Paul C 13:15, 29 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Electric train vs Skytrain

It's true that "รถไฟฟ้า" could mean either electric train or sky train. But if you look at MRTA and BMCL they also refer subway as "รถไฟฟ้า" or "รถไฟฟ้าใต้ดิน". So "รถไฟฟ้า" should mean electric train. -- Lerdsuwa 14:21, 2 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the translation of rot fai fa altogether; Since train in Thai means fire car and electricity means sky fire, we might as well translate that as sky fire car - there's no correct literal translation. - Paul C 05:17, 4 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think that's the right decision. BMCL translate the term as metro, which is, itself, problematic. TheMadBaron 09:41, 4 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't dispute that there is no need to translate the literal term, but you both ignore Lerdsuwa's conclusive evidence above. The literal translation for the subway is: "car fire sky under ground". That leaves no other choice than to combine "fire sky" into electricity. −Woodstone 09:56, 4 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not ignoring Lerdsuwa's evidence at all, or I'd still be arguing that rot fai fa necessarily means sky train. The fact is, Thais commonly refer to other electric trains simply as "rot fai" (where fai means fire, or in this case, electricity), and to underground trains as "rot fai tai din". Rot fai fa was explained to me, by a native Thai speaker, as specifically refering to the Skytrain, where rot fai means electric train, and fa means sky. In light of Lerdsuwa's evidence, either interpretation appears, to me, to be valid. TheMadBaron 11:13, 4 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

All true, but "rot fai" orginates from the steam engine. This term is now used as just meaning any train, but "rot fai fa" makes it an explicit electric train. Perhaps the authorities found it a nice play with words to call it "rot fai fa". −Woodstone 11:37, 4 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Very possibly an electric train, very possibly a sky train, very probably a pun, not explicitly anything, in fact, and definitely entirely academic since you don't dispute that there is no need to translate the literal term. :) Bored now.... TheMadBaron 23:28, 4 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Oops, I put the wrong link to the MRTA above. For Thai word: rod=car, rod fai=train (it came from steam engine as Woodstone said), fai=fire, fai fa=electricity (I guess it came from lightning), fa=sky. As a native Thai, I always view rod fai fa as electric train for a long time. Other Thai may view it as skytrain. :) -- Lerdsuwa 14:39, 4 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's quite hard to say. As it's said above, "rod" means car (or in wider sense, wheeled vehicle), "fai" means fire, and "fa" means sky. If you combined the word "rod" and "fai" as "rod fai", it means train, since at first it had steam engine. "Fai fa" means electricity, from the lightning. "Rod fai fa" can be the combination of "rod fai" and "fa", which means skytrain, or "rod" and "fai fa" which means electric car, or more accurately in English sense, electric train. As a Thai, I always thought that it was "rod" and "fai fa", but I am not sure of the real origin. I assume that half Bangkokians do not know it really. Perhaps we can make a note. CW32 07:38, 25 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thong Lo - Japanese district

I don't think Thong Lo station should be referred to as the Japanese District as it's not strictly speaking true: although there are a fair number of Japanese expats in the Thong Lo area, there aren't so many as to make it noteworthy enough for a mention. Also, this is the only station to have such a comment next to it.

I think it's worth mentioning significant buildings or tourist attractions in the immediate vicinity of these stations but, for me, "Japanese District" for Thong Lo doesn't fit that category. Dantilley 05:50, 29 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

IMHO only buildings directly connected by bridges should be mentioned. Wikipedia is not a travel guide. Jpatokal (talk) 10:08, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nana station notes

I've removed "Grace Hotel; Hotel Nana; Nana Plaza" from the Nana station notes as they seem to be just a few random amenities in the rough area of the station and not significant enough to warrant mentioning. For one thing, there are hotels much closer to Nana station than those (e.g. The Landmark) and also if we include these then most other stations should have a few points of interest listed in their notes too.

Footbridges and interchanges are worth mentioning as they are part of the actual station itself, but it would get too convoluted to try and list all nearby attractions / amenities.

Also, I removed "Benjasiri Park" from Phrom Phong station for the same reason. Dantilley (talk) 06:22, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move

The train system is usually locally referred to as BTS, and Google hits for "BTS Skytrain" outnumber those for "Bangkok Skytrain". Referring to BTS would also help disambiguate from other elevated rail systems such as the Suvarnabhumi Airport Link. --Paul_012 ^(talk) 08:02, 11 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Dates for completion of route extension beyond Saphan Taksin

In the notes for Charoen Nakhon and Wongwian Yai stations it says they will be open in January 2009, but in the notes below it says they will open in late 2008. Which is correct? Dantilley (talk) 06:58, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"Correct"? This is Thailand! The extension has been supposed to open since c. 2003. At this point, opening in 2008 is starting to look very unlikely, but who knows if they'll be ready even in 2009... Jpatokal (talk) 20:26, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

True - have changed both references to say "Early 2009" - which is still optimistic, I know, but better than over-promising by saying late 2008, or being too precise by saying January 2009... Dantilley (talk) 08:30, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

NB - noticed the date "April 2009" has been put in the table detailing the Silom Line stations. Do we have a source for this? Dantilley (talk) 02:40, 27 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Colour coding for train lines, etc.

WP:MOSCOLOR says that "It is also almost never a good idea to use other style changes, such as font family or color," and I agree that colour coding the train lines would cause more harm than good. You'll notice that nowhere in the London Underground article are the train lines font-coloured by their map colours. To me, it reduces readability, and looks un-encyclopaedic. The pink background to denote planned stations is also distracting; I'd prefer a shade of grey, if the background must be different. --Paul_012 ^(talk) 18:35, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. I've also removed the "planned" station lists, any extensions beyond Bearing and Wongwian Yai are completely speculative at the moment. Jpatokal (talk) 15:44, 1 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Merge

Please do not merge this with the BTS file. It has important information that is useful and that can be expanded in the future.Wakablogger2 (talk) 22:52, 23 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed some dates

There were a few instances of 5 Dec 2011 quoted as the opening date for the Silom extension beyond Wongwian Yai. I have corrected these to be 5 Dec 2012, which is the date given in The Nation article. Dantilley (talk) 02:23, 11 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The most basic information this article should have is missing

The map for all who is not a Bangkok native is not here. A map where sky train AND Bangkok is merged together. You do not normally take a sky train to go to sky train stations. You take a sky train to go to somewhere in in Bangkok that is not a sky train station. The people who are Bangkok natives don't read this page - they are almost all Thai and know already their city and don't understand English and/or don't even have a computer with internet. So when You know where in Bangkok You want to go to, perhaps PanTip or maybe you only have the lat and long or street name the information here is to no use whatever. 27.55.1.171 (talk) 18:05, 13 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Individual station articles

I split the station list to Sukhumvit Line and Silom Line and have merged/redirected most station articles there. As the BTS is a new system, it is unlikely that its stations would be considered individually notable, historically, technically or otherwise. (See also Wikipedia:Notability (Railway lines and stations).) Most of the articles provided directory information, which don't warrant individual articles. Descriptions of Bangkok's neighbourhoods are good to have, but they belong in their own articles. If verifiable sources discussing individual stations in detail are provided, these can be re-expanded in the future. --Paul_012 (talk) 10:56, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Separate line

while you can buy cards for daily to monthly use, they are only for the main part of the system. If you want to travel anywhere from On Nut to Bearing, it is an extra 10 baht (the normal fare) as this is judged to be a separate line though it is obviously not.(171.96.116.186 (talk) 03:25, 13 December 2014 (UTC))[reply]

Requested move 16 June 2017

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Not moved. Opposed and largely inactive discussion — Andy W. (talk) 21:01, 28 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

BTS Skytrain → BTS skytrain – "Skytrain" isn't part of the system's WP:proper name, but a descriptive term, so it should be de-capitalised. Both forms (capital and small) appear used by news sources. Paul_012 (talk) 04:47, 16 June 2017 (UTC) --Relisting. Anarchyte (work | talk) 15:38, 24 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose. The system is clearly known as the Skytrain. No problems with the name as it is. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:31, 19 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

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A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion:

A real bts new siemens inspiro train.jpg

You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 18:52, 21 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion:

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 03:36, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Interactive map not working?

Yourlocallordandsavior (talk) 08:36, 14 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to be a bug with the underlying module. It's broken for many other pages as well. --Paul_012 (talk) 09:18, 14 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Template talk:Rapid transit OSM map is probably the right place to bring this up Matthewmayer (talk) 11:17, 14 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion:

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 04:28, 15 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Station infobox styling

Jjpachano, I strongly disagree with the edits to put SVG images replicating the stations' actual signage in place of the infobox titles. Doing so causes WP:accessibility problems. Textual information should always be presented using text as far as possible, and replacing them with images don't offer any value apart from being decorative, which isn't a good enough reason. --Paul_012 (talk) 21:46, 30 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Paul 012:, ok - Jjpachano (talk) 01:08, 1 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]