Bangkok's Skytrain, an elevated rail network is expected to report its first net profit this year, ending four years of losses for the troubled mass transit system in Thailand.
The Bangkok Skytrain, a revolutionized travel system in the inner of Bangkok opened in 1999, but passenger loads were well below expectations due to the regional financial crisis which broke out in Thailand in the year 1997.
Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC) chairman Khun Kasem Chatikavanich said that the company now expects to post net profits of around 600-700 million baht (15.1-17.8 million dollars) this year, partly helped by the strong Thai Baht.
This year will be the turning point for the BTSC company and will be marked by a dramatic rise from Skytrain users, that is enabling us to post greater revenues and make it possible to pay our daily interest on around 75-80 percent of our loans, he added. Based on the future outlook for increasing Skytrain users, we expect to fully meet our interest payments from the daily revenue, starting from the year 2004.
Due to the rocky start of the Bangkok Skytrain, the 23.5-kilometre (15-mile) transport system is saddled with massive debts that are subject to ongoing negotiations with creditors on restructuring and debt-for-equity deals. The current debt of the Bangkok Skytrain stands at 45 billion baht (US$ 1,15 billion) and more than half of the BTSC company's daily revenue is spent on paying back loan interest.
Khun Kasem said that on a daily average 350,000 passengers used the Bangkok Skytrain on weekdays, with loads topping 400,000 passengers in busy top periods. Those figures represent a significant increase on the 150,000 passenger average reported using the Bangkok Skytrain in it's first year of operation, in the post 1997 crisis era when Bangkok residents preferred to save money and ride the Bangkok's cheap and plentiful public buses.
Another problem facing the Skytrain in Thailand is its limited rail network, which does not extend to the suburbs where the vast majority of the residents of Bangkok live.
Khun Kasem said, that creditors had now agreed to suspend half of the loan interest for 2 years, allowing the Bangkok Skytrain to extend one of its transport lines in a development that would increase passenger volume by at least 30,000 daily.
The high passenger loads would in turn allow BTSC to finance another extension of the rail network across Bangkok's Chao Phraya river and into the sprawling Thonburi residential district, he further added.
After those first 4 years facing a wide range of difficulties, our fortunes have been boosted by the increase in passengers using the Bangkok Skytrain. Right now, we feel more relieved and are ready to grow further with more extensions plans, Khun Kasem said.
