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MRT (Bangkok)

rapid transit system serving the Bangkok Metropolitan Region in Thailand

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ806485
Source-derived summary

The Metropolitan Rapid Transit or MRT is a medium-capacity rapid transit system serving the Bangkok Metropolitan Region in Thailand. The MRT system comprises two fully operational rapid transit lines (Blue and Purple) and two fully operational monorail lines (Yellow and Pink), with another rapid transit line (Orange) under construction. The MRT Blue Line, officially the Chaloem Ratchamongkhon Line, between Hua Lamphong and Bang Sue was the first to open in July 2004 as Bangkok's second metro system. The MRT Blue line is officially known in Thai as rotfaifa mahanakhon (รถไฟฟ้ามหานคร) or "metropolitan SkyTrain", but it is more commonly called rotfai taidin (รถไฟใต้ดิน), literally, "underground train" as it was distinguished from the BTS Skytrain by being completely underground when its first section between Hua Lamphong to Bang Sue opened.

The second MRT line MRT Purple Line, officially the Chalong Ratchadham Line, opened on 6 August 2016 and connected Tao Poon with Khlong Bang Phai in Nonthaburi in the northwest of Greater Bangkok. It was the first mass transit line to extend outside Bangkok.

Both the Blue Line and Purple Line are operated by the Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited (BEM) under a concession granted by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), which is the owner of the MRT lines. Along with the BTS Skytrain and the Airport Rail Link, the MRT is part of Bangkok's rail transportation infrastructure. The BEM-operated MRT lines have 526,000 passengers each day as of August 2024 (Blue Line 453,000 and Purple Line 73,000) with 54 operational stations and a combined route length of 71 kilometers (44 mi). Construction began in mid-2011 to extend the MRT Blue Line, after completion in April 2020, the Blue Line has become a quasi loop line (providing interchange with itself at Tha Phra) around the centre of Bangkok.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “MRT (Bangkok)” is rapid transit system serving the Bangkok Metropolitan Region in Thailand. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Bangkok, rapid and transit, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2004, 2016, 2024, 2011—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2004-01-01. For this dossier, Bangkok, rapid and transit is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “rapid transit system serving the Bangkok Metropolitan Region in Thailand” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q806485. Authority coordinates are 13.750, 100.517. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004, 2016, 2024 and 2011.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “MRT (Bangkok)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow MRT (Bangkok) primary sources, MRT (Bangkok) archive and Bangkok research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from MRT (Bangkok)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.