Red Alert: Bangkok can now ride the rails all the way to Rangsit, Taling Chan

The first trains in a long-awaited commuter rail extension into the northern and western metro hinterlands finally rolled out this morning. 

Clad in red and white, a Hitachi electric train hit the rails Monday morning, the first day of operation for the SRT Red Line, which connects the recently opened transit cathedral in Bang Sue north to Rangsit in Pathum Thani province and west to Bangkok’s Taling Chan district. 

The Rangsit-bound route is called “dark red line” and promises to take passengers to 10 stations within 25 minutes, while the way to Taling Chan is called the “light red line” and passes three stations in 15 minutes.

Altogether, the extensions, which link through the Bang Sue Grand Station, add another 41 kilometers to Bangkok’s commuter rail grid. The total project is estimated to have cost somewhere…