The morning commute on the Sukhumvit BTS line may be about to get less crowded. Accordingly to German manufacturing conglomerate Siemens, who are responsible for producing Bangkok's BTS carriages, 22 new four-car trains have now been completed for the Green (Sukhumvit) Line extension.

The news was posted in a press release on the Siemens company website. 

The trains, according to Siemens, are now ready to be shipped to Thailand from the factory in Turkey, and are expected to arrive at Thailand's Laem Chabang port this August, before being transported to Bangkok.

Each train “will have innovative construction of the car body that reduces energy consumption,” according to CEO of the Siemens Mobility Division, Sabrina Soussan.

“Four doors on each side of the cars enable passengers to board and leave the train rapidly, reducing dwell times at stations and increasing system capacity,” explained Soussan.

For Bangkok commuters, this may end the increasingly frantic rush-hour crushes that have resulted from expansions to more stations without an increase in the number of carriages to take the extra passengers. 

But the new trains will also have to deal with a heavily increased traffic load as the line prepares for 25 new stations—over double its current length.

The Green Line, which currently runs from Mo Chit in north Bangkok to Bearing in the south, is being extended to nine new stations beyong Bearing.

A 16-stop extension is also under construction beyond Mo Chit station, heading north. According to the Mass Rapid Transit Authority, the extension was 53-percent complete as of Dec 2017. 

The Nation reports that a further 24 trains are to be supplied by China’s Changchun Railway Vehicles.