A city that could not dig, so it built upward
Soft ground, an elevated railway, and the malls that grew to meet the platforms.
In this section
3 guides. Everything on the site is in the archive.
- The ground was too soft to tunnel, so the railway went over the roadThe BTS opened in 1999 on a viaduct above existing avenues because Bangkok's alluvial soil made cut-and-cover expensive and slow.
- The underground got built anyway, and it cost moreThe MRT opened in 2004 beneath the same soft ground the Skytrain avoided, at a much higher price per kilometre.
- The malls grew until they touched the platformsBangkok's shopping centres connect directly to Skytrain stations by walkway, which has reorganised where the city's ground floor actually is.