IRSE Sept 08.indd

THAILAND CONVENTION REPORT
IRSE
West Meets East
A personal view of the 2008 IRSE Convention
by Ian Bridges
Photos: Ian Bridges
I
was once again privileged to
be able to attend the annual
IRSE convention, held this year in the
Oriental city of Bangkok, Thailand under
the leadership of the President, Alan
Fisher, supported by his wife Jennie.
The Institution was a guest of the State
Railways of Thailand (SRT), the Bangkok
Mass Transit System Public Company
Limited (BTS) and the Bangkok Metro
Public Company Limited (BMCL). While
members attended a series of lectures and
technical visits, guests were afforded an
interesting parallel program, allowing them
to experience the delights and charm of a
vibrant city in the ‘land of smiles’.
Following a welcome address and
introduction by the President, proceedings
commenced on Monday afternoon 26 May
at the Shangri-La Hotel, on the east bank
of the Chao Phraya river. Mr Khun
Soonthorn Balyore and Mr Khun Surapong
Laoha-Unya continued welcoming
members and guests on behalf of SRT and
BMCL respectively.
Once the guests had departed for their
afternoon programme, members were
presented with a series of papers, setting
the scene for the technical visits that
would follow later in the week. The first
paper, presented by Steve Case from
Bombardier, considered the
enhancements which are currently being
undertaken on the SRT network and those
proposed for the future.
Further papers were presented by Dr
Chaisak Srisethanil (BTS) on the subject of
BTS Skytrain, Alex Muench (Siemens) on
Siemens rail automated solutions for mass
transit and Paul Evans (InfraAsia) who
discussed projects and communications
systems within Bangkok and Thailand.
State Railways of Thailand
Steve Case opened his paper by
discussing a number of areas where the
existing main line infrastructure is
suffering from capacity problems. SRT is
typically a national freight network of
single and double lines. Four key areas
have been identified for short term
enhancement, two to the north-east of
Bangkok – Ban Phachi to Lop Buri (ST2/N)
and Ban Phachi to Map Kabao (ST2/NE), a
line to the east of Bangkok from Hua Mak
to Chachoengaso (ST3/E) and finally to the
west of the city from Taling Chan to
Nakhon Pathom (ST2/S).
The four schemes represent 173 route
kilometres of railway and are to be
upgraded with bi-directional signalling and
from single track to double track, with the
exception of ST3/E, which will become
three track railway. 721 signals, 359 point
machines and 1032 track circuits will be
delivered as components for the four
schemes. The railway is currently signalled
using large numbers of relay interlockings,
token and tablet machines, controlled
from local panels at each of the stations.
Bombardier are replacing 31 relay
interlockings as part of the upgrade, using
Ebiloc 950 Computer Based interlockings
(CBI) configured specifically for the SRT
signalling rules. Links into the Central
Traffic Control (CTC) at Bang Sue Junction
will be provided, where traffic monitoring is
undertaken, route setting remains at the
individual stations using Ebiscreen
technology. 50 level crossings will also be
upgraded as part of the scheme, operated
by local control panels and interlocked
with the signalling by the station Ebiloc
interlockings.
Chiangrak Station
IRSE
NEWS Issue 137 September 2008 9