Bangkok-Butterworth train derails

[Bamboo Grove]

It looks like the trains are no longer the safe option to travel around Thailand. Mind you, I was in a tran accident 23 years ago when the train from Sungai Kolok to Bangkok derailed just before Yala. It just seems that this kind of mishaps are becoming more and more common.

A car on the Bangkok-Butterworth express train derailed on Friday in Bang Sue district. No injuries were reported.

State Railway of Thailand (SRT) governor Prapat Chongsanguan said the last carriage of the express train No. 36 bound for Malaysia slipped off the rails at about 11am.

No passengers in the derailed compartment were hurt and they were transferred to another carriage, he said.

The mishap was the latest in a long series of incidents affecting the SRT, which is losing billions of baht a year and can barely afford basic maintenance of its tracks and rolling stock.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/3 ... derailment

Conditions on the state railway's northern line are so bad - 13 derailments took place from January to August - that the SRT has had to close a 300-kilometre stretch from Phrae to Chiang Mai for repairs.

[PeteC]

I link to this story as well in case readers didn't catch it in the "high speed" thread. Pete

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opin ... -the-rails

[hhfarang]

If they treat maintenance of trains and the rail bed infrastructure the same way they do soi, electric, water, and sewage infrastructure, it's surprising that there are not more accidents than there are.

[charlesh]

The bloody thing is that slow that I am amazed it can run off of anything but then again it was in bandit country.

[Ratsima]

Somewhere I read that money for track and rolling stock maintenance had been removed from the regular annual budget and moved to the 2 trillion baht infrastructure bill. Since the latter has yet to pass, there is no current funding for regular maintenance.

[Lung Per]

Have no fear: SRT management has taken serious steps to avoid future train accidents. It has appealed to devine powers for protection. Now we can all be safe, there should be no more train accidents. Read this interesting report: http://www.bangkokpost.com/lite/breakin ... e-for-help

[margaretcarnes]

Not sure if this should be in 'On The Road' but - yet another train de-railed yeaterday. Fortunately only 300 metres out of Hua Lamphong station, so it can't have been going at any speed, and fortunately no injuries. Seems it just slid off the track, which is thought to be dropping to bits. No surprise there then.
What puzzles me is that the 'jobsworth' minister in charge has had to order that walking inspections are carried out on all tracks pronto.
I know I know - TIT - why did I ever assume that the SRT did regular inspections anyway? And why am I assuming that the necessary reports on the condition of tracks nation wide will take forever - if ever?

At least the track problems between HL and Chiang Mai have been noticed, and trains on that route suspended.

[Bamboo Grove]

The umpteen times I travelled along the death railway in Kanjanaburi, I wondered about the condition of the tracks and particular that Tham Krasae Bridge. I hope they do regular checks there.

[Nereus]

The umpteen times I travelled along the death railway in Kanjanaburi, I wondered about the condition of the tracks and particular that Tham Krasae Bridge. I hope they do regular checks there.

Yes, I agree. It must be 15 years since I last crossed that bridge, and it frightened the daylights out of me then, so who knows it`s condition now.

[hhfarang]

No complaining now! It seems from other threads that 99% of you think Thailand is a perfect paradise. So don't complain about death/injury by train/bus/van/motorcycle/car/plane, because of the bad drivers or infrastructure. Love it and embrace it!

[Big Boy]

Yes, I agree. It must be 15 years since I last crossed that bridge, and it frightened the daylights out of me then, so who knows it`s condition now.

My son and a couple of his mates did the Wang Po to Kanchaburi trip a few weeks ago. They said the train didn't even slow down on that bridge. They've either done some major strengthening work, or the driver was in a hurry to get somewhere. Maybe he's a mini-bus driver in his spare time

[Bamboo Grove]

HHF wrote:

No complaining now! It seems from other threads that 99% of you think Thailand is a perfect paradise. So don't complain about death/injury by train/bus/van/motorcycle/car/plane, because of the bad drivers or infrastructure. Love it and embrace it!

I'm not complaining and I have never stated that Thailand is a perfect paradise. It's a lovely place but it doesn't mean there are no risks and people should be aware of the risks.

[margaretcarnes]

The umpteen times I travelled along the death railway in Kanjanaburi, I wondered about the condition of the tracks and particular that Tham Krasae Bridge. I hope they do regular checks there.

I doubt it BG! The only tme I did that trip in the 90's all the passengers moved to the opposite side of the carriage in the vain hope of keeping the train on the track.... it only worked because the lady with the crate of chickens moved over as well.
Strangely I still have no qualms at all about using the SRT, despite one very worrying trip from Bangkok to HH in 2010, and despite having seen derailments. Maybe it is still preferable to travelling by road. Even when you know you have a good driver there are still the other nutters to contend with.
To be fair Thailand has done a brilliant job IMO with the Skytrain and Bangkok subway, but their useage is limited to Bangkok, which is also where the money is.
There is clearly an urgent need - in our Farang heads at least - for some serious investment in the countries rail infrastructure, so that it can continue to provide a viable alternative to roads as a means of cheap mass transport. I hope it doesn't follow the UKs example of isolating many areas and privatising, which has led to more road traffic and higher rail fares to pay for essential safety checks and regular track maintainance. But to maintain that mass transport system is going to cost, and I wonder if the Thai Government is really prepared to foot the bill for the sake of villagers who still have a 'Buddhas Will' mindset, and perhaps more significantly are still seen as lesser beings than Bangkokians.

[Bamboo Grove]

I haven't been a great fan of Chuwit but have to say that watching this clip where he gives the government an earful concerning the 200 tr. Baht investement and quality of the railways in Thailand is very good.

He is pointing out about the poor quality of products and factories from where the products are bought. He is not against the investements but doubts that the money will totally go where it should. Instead, some of it might end up in the pockets of the government officials or their hmmm, shall we say friends. This will then cause the investments to be of very low quality, leading to these train accidents.

Very interesting but you need to understand Thai or have someone to translate it for you to really enjy it. I'll start following Chuwit more closely from now on.

https://www.facebook.com/ChuvitOnline?ref=stream

Also, I'm not sure where to find the clip outside facebook.

BG, is this the one?

[PeteC]

^ He has a ton of You Tube clips. This current one about the train tracks hasn't appeared yet, but it may in a day or so. Pete

http://www.youtube.com/channel/HCJ9j7cu6FnAg/videos