“We expect the missing connection of the Purple Line to the MRT Blue Line for one station with one kilometre in distance to be available in the middle of next year and also the two extensions of the MRT Blue Line to open service within three years,” Sombat Kitjalaksana, managing director of BEM, told The Nation.

Last month, the prime minister ordered parties involved in the project to solve the problem of finding an operator for the MRT Blue Line’s two extensions, including the missing link between the Purple Line’s Tao Poon Station and the Blue Line’s Bang Sue Station.

BEM’s stock closed up 0.63 per cent at Bt7.95 in response to the good news that the Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRT) had completed its revenue-sharing regulations for the Blue Line’s extension.

If negotiations are successful, BEM will likely run the whole 55km loop of the Blue Line with 42 stations, which includes the existing Bang Sue-Hua Lamphong main route and the two extensions of Hua Lamphong-Bang Khae and Bang Sue-Thaphra.

Insiders believe that BEM, which also operates the new 42.Purple Line running 42.8km in length with 32 stations from the northern suburbs, would have benefits from operating the extended routes of the Blue Line.

This means that the existing Blue Line, whose concession ends in 2029, will be extended to 2049 – the same term as the the extended routes’ concession.

BEM could enjoy an upside gain in the long term, expected at about Bt1.1 billion-Bt3.4 billion a year, if the company was granted the |operating concession for the Blue Line’s extension, KGI Securities Thailand reiterated in its latest analysis.

However, the higher revenue assumed ridership of 600,000 passengers a year, a 20-per-cent stake at the initial stage, average fare per rider of Bt29 and the kick-start of the Blue Line’s extension in 2019.

Sombat said the company was likely to open talks next month with the committees in line with the order.

The result of the talks would hopefully be satisfactory to both sides.

However, he declined to go into detail on how much the ticket |fare for the extended routes should be, as this would depend on the business model, or which kind of concessions to be granted by the government.

“There should be some kind of support from the government if it wants to keep the fares at a low level,” he said.

As a 28-per-cent owned subsidiary of Ch Karnchang, he said BEM was poised to invest more, around Bt20 billion to Bt30 billion, for the operation of the extended routes of the Blue Line.

Recently, the company successfully raised funds via issuing debentures worth Bt16.5 billion.

“We need at least 30 more trains of three cars each, doubling what we have right now for the existing MRT Blue Line,” said Sombat.

The company was also interested in running other commuter trains – which are under the government’s process to open bidding – like the Pink Line (Khae Rai-Min Buri), Yellow Line (Lat Phrao-Samrong) and Orange Line (Thai Cultural Centre-Min Buri).