Passengers left stranded in Chumphon yester day following an abrupt suspension of train services threatened to sue the State Railway of Thailand for compensation.
Three of them filed com
plaints at Lae Mae Police Station
after more than 2,000 of them,
travelling on Train 167, were left
at Lae Mae train station from
3am until 9am, before chartered
buses took them further to their
destination.
But during the six-hour wait they had no assistance or service from local railway workers.
The three said they needed police reports to pursue claims for damages from SRT for the delay. The union of the local SRT operation in Chumphon said later that the
suspension of service was need
ed because a safety system called
Vigilance installed on many loco
motives did not work.
Union leader Issara
Kerdsodsri accused the SRT man
agement of not caring about pas
sengers, and not heeding
requests made two years ago by local railway workers for the Vigilance system and
additional equipment.
At the Hat Yai railway junc
tion in Songkhla, where the
"work suspension" began, many
passengers on Train 171 from
Bangkok to Narathiwat had to
carry their heavy luggage for a long
distance to catch another train to
continue their journey to the
deep South. There was no porter service available to help them because support staff had also "suspended" their service.
Prime Minister Abhisit
Vejjajiva said the internal con
flicts of the SRT should not be
allowed to inconvenience com
muters and interrupt railway
service.
On his weekly morning tele
vision address, Abhisit said he
wondered why railway workers
were permitted to take adminis
trative leave at the same time.
"The public is calling for
reform of the SRT even under
normal circumstances. So don't
do anything that will be even
more detrimental to your organ
isation. The government is look
ing into an overall plan regard
ing the SRT. A revised report will
be submitted to the Cabinet in a
few weeks. There is a need for a
drastic overhaul [of the SRT]," he
said.
The SRT labour unions' call
for a replacement for SRT gov
ernor Yutthana Tabjaroen need
ed to be taken into considera
tion, and if there was cause, other
measures should be adopted
instead of such strikes, he said.
Quoting Transport Minister
Sophon Saram, Abhisit said the
SRT would now address the
delays and disruptions of freight
trains, while passenger trains
were top priority to minimise the
effects of the labour action.
Sawit Kaewwan, head of the
confederation of SRT labour
unions, called on the ministry
and the SRT to jointly solve prob
lems regarding the safety sys
tems of locomotives.
Up to 90 per cent of all 196
locomotives were unfit for use
due to inadequate maintenance
and lack of spare parts and
equipment, he said.
"In some locomotives, whose
windshield wipers are not in use,
engineers have to improvise by
making makeshift wipers oper
ated by hand," he added.
In Trang, two trains were sus
pended for the first time.
Chartered buses were provided
for passengers wishing to trans
fer. Those who bought tickets for
trains that have been suspended
could get full refunds.
For more information, con
tact SRT's hotline at 1690
round the clock.
The SRT in the afternoon
announced an indefinite sus
pension of seven southbound
passenger trains because of the
ongoing absenteeism of staff.
The suspended services were: Bangkok-Sungai Kolok rapid train No 171; Bangkok-Butterworth express
train No 35; Bangkok-Sungai
Kolok express train No 37; Bangkok-Yala rapid train No 169; Bangkok-Nakhon Si
Thammarat rapid train No 173; Bangkok-Kantang rapid train No 167; and Bangkok-Yala express train No 41.
Remaining in service were
Bangkok-Trang express train No
83 leaving at 5.05pm; Bangkok-
Nakhon Si Thammarat express
train No 85 departing at 7.30pm;
and Bangkok-Surat Thani
express train No 39 leaving at
10.50pm.
The SRT did not say when train services would be restored.