On top of great food and shopping bargains, Bangkok is also famous for its traffic jams at almost any time of the day, and that includes getting into one when you travel from the airport to the city. Thankfully, the Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link City Line is here to save the day, taking a 1.5 hour taxi ride into the city to just 26 minutes end-to-end to Phaya Thai, which is right in Bangkok city.
The Airport Rail Link is located on the Basement Floor of Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Tickets can be bought from the ticket vending machines in the station.
If you’re travelling on a single journey, you will be issued with a token which you tap on the gantry to enter the platforms. Tickets from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Phaya Thai costs 45 Baht.
The train from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Phaya Thai departs every 10 to 12 minutes.
Inside the train, the seating area consists of longitudinal seating, which is fairly sufficient for a less-than-half-an-hour-ride. And it’s cheap too at a price of around S$2, considering the distance of 28.6km and the journey time of 26 minutes taken, which is cheaper than a certain other company claiming that they have the cheapest airport link in the world despite them charging about 9 times more than this.
Exiting the underground station at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Taking the west curve towards Bangkok city.
The provisions for the extension to Pattaya at Lat Krabang should the line be used as the backbone of the Bangkok – Rayong High Speed Rail in future.
A salute to King Maha Vajiralongkorn on the highway to Bangkok.
Approaching Hua Mak station. This station functioned as an overtaking station for the Express Line when it was still operational.
Passing by SHOW DC, a new Korean themed mall in Bangkok.
Entering Makkasan station. Alight here to change to the MRT Blue Line.
The buffer stops after Makkasan on the Express Line tracks just before the provisions for the installation of the points to merge the lines on the western end of the station. A hindsight in design since the Express Line is not allowed to go past the station to head for Phaya Thai where the bulk of the passengers are heading to anyway.
Entering Phaya Thai. Alight here to change to the BTS Sukhumvit Line.
The City Line train parked beside the Express Line train. However, this is only differentiated by the car formation and the livery as the Express Line train interior has been converted to the City Line’s to allow for a higher capacity.
The end of the line for now. In future, this will link up to Don Mueang Airport.
To exit the station, drop the token into the slot at the fare gates.
Go down one floor to the BTS linkbridge if you are transferring to the BTS Sukhumvit Line.
The BTS Sukhumvit Line will connect you to places of interests such as Chatuchak Market, Siam and Sukhumvit.
However, if you are heading to Pratunam, you should alight at Ratchaprarop station on the ARL City Line instead, which is the second last station, just before Phaya Thai.
Overall, the Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link City Line offers a fuss-free and definitely fast and cheap journey to the city, skipping all the jams which Bangkok is famous for. If I were landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport, I wouldn’t want to get to Bangkok city any other way than this.
You did not mention the huge problems they are facing since month with the Airport Rail Link, e.g. trains packed with people and fully overcrowded, from time to time waiting in queue for one hour and longer until you are allowed to enter a train.