Rama IV Street

View of Rama IV Street, “Flyover” at Lumphini Park

The Thanon Phra Ram Thi 4 ( Thai : ถนน พระราม ที่ 4 - Rama IV. Street , in English usage Rama IV Road ) is a main street in Bangkok , capital of Thailand .

Course of the road

Rama IV Street begins on Rattanakosin Island in the Pom Prap Sattru Phai district at the Ha-Yaek Momi ( ห้า แยก หมอ มี , "five-street intersection Momi") called the intersection of Thanon Charoen Krung with Thanon Mitrapan and the Thanon Song Sawat. At Bangkok's main train station, Hua Lamphong, it crosses the Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem and continues east-southeast through the Pathum Wan district . There the Bangkok Skytrain crosses Rama IV Street at Lumphini Park . It continues through the Khlong Toei district, past the port of Bangkok, where it turns east a little later and then ends at Thanon Sukhumvit .

history

The Khlong Toei area has a long history, dating back to the 9th century when the first port was built here. The associated town was called Mueang Pak Nam Phra Pradaeng ( เมือง ปากน้ำ พระประแดง ), opposite the Amphoe Phra Pradaeng . Khlong Thanon Trong ( คลอง ถนน ตรง ) was a canal on the one hand, and a parallel road on the other, which was built around 1857 under King Rama IV (Mongkut). Later the channel was called Khlong Toei and on the lower reaches Khlong Hua Lamphong. Around 100 years ago, the canal and road led through vegetable gardens and orchards.

The road was built in 1919 by King Rama VI. (Vajiravudh) renamed Thanon Phra Ram 4 (Rama IV Street). In 1947 a large part of the canal was filled in to make room for the expansion of Rama IV Street.

Traffic artery

On April 11, 1893, the so-called "Pak Nam Railway", a 21 km long railway line, was opened by the Danish-Belgian Railway Company. It began at the Hua Lamphong train station and ran first parallel to Rama IV Street, then via Thanon Sukhumvit Soi 42 and Bang Na to the Samut Prakarn Provincial Hall (now the Royal Naval Academy in Samut Prakan ). When the concession ended in 1936, the route of the Royal State Railways (now the State Railway of Thailand ) was attached and electrified. On January 1, 1960, the operation was stopped because the motor vehicle traffic had increased too much.

From 1894 to around April 1962, the tram of the "Hualamphong Line" ran along Rama IV Street.

In order to cope with the growing traffic, several so-called “flyovers” were built in the 1980s and 1990s, which bridge the most important junctions, which are often threatened by traffic jams lasting for hours.

Today the Bangkok Metro runs from Hua Lamphong Station the first five kilometers below Rama IV Street until it turns north near the Queen Sirikit Convention Center .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bangkok Tram Lines ( Memento from November 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Page of the Bangkok Tramways (1894-1968) from 2bangkok.com, (in English)
2. ↑ See "Bangkok Tram map 1950" ( Memento from November 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Route map of the Bangkok tram from 1950 at 2bangkok.com

swell

• Steve Van Beek: Bangkok then and now . AB Publications, Bangkok 2001, ISBN 974-87616-2-2 (English version: ISBN 974-870639-7 )
• ศันสนีย์ วีระ ศิลป์ ชัย "ชื่อ บ้าน นาม เมือง ใน กรุงเทพฯ" ( Old names of streets, bridges, squares etc. in Bangkok ). มติ ชน กรุงเทพฯ (พิมพ์ ครั้ง ที่ ๖ ๒๕๔๖), ISBN 974-322-821-7

Coordinates: 13 ° 43 ′ 49 ″  N , 100 ° 32 ′ 7.1 ″  E