Train Driver Fails Drug Test After Bangkok Crash

"The union stated that the State Railway of Thailand had already submitted licence applications for 951 operational staff members, but only 208 licences had so far been issued by the Department of Rail Transport. It argued that if all remaining staff without newly issued licences were suspended, 743 train services would immediately be affected nationwide."

Amazing Thailand. Mai mee khwaam rap pit chawp.

The game now begins where no one accepts responsibility. And yes it would be convenient if the train driver turned out to be Burmese, as some suggested, then we could blame the Farang.

...Does That Stink Or What...(?)

...8 Dead...Scores Injured...(?)

...Hundreds Of Millions In Damages...(?)

...Bail...100k...(?)

..."In Other Stories...2 Arrested For Shoplifting a 50-Baht Trinket"....(?)

...(Or Similar)(?)...

Good lord. First we find out the train driver was on drugs, now we know he also had no train driver license. Guess it would be inappropriate to use the slang term 'train wreck' to describe this gross mismanagement.

As others have mentioned, the track there is perfectly straight. An alert train driver could have easily seen from a far distance a big, bright orange bus sitting on the tracks and applied the brakes much sooner than just 100 meters away. Obviously, he was doing something other than paying close attention to what was going on with the track ahead of him. Totally the train driver's fault.

Apparently, earlier CCTV footage, before accident he was no where to be seen in the cabin.

Also, may have tried doing a runner, had his hair cut before being apprehended

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

There are but the barriers cannot come down if there is traffic obstructing them, as was the case in this incident.

18 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Indeed, if a Benz driver travelling at 150 km/h on an casing death by dangerous driving can be give bail, then the same principle of due process should also be afforded to these two men.

That said, there are far more troubling aspects to this tragedy than the actions of the individuals immediately involved - and proportioning 'direct blame' thus sweeping a far wider issue under the carpet.

Most likely, these men will be publicly sacrificed as the sole faces of blame, while the broader system that enabled the disaster escapes meaningful scrutiny. And while responsibility may well rest with them, there are also profound systemic failures at play - failures for which far more senior officials, administrators, and government bodies should also be held accountable.

• Who authorised the employment of an allegedly unlicensed train driver?

• Who was responsible for implementing and enforcing routine drug and fitness testing?

• Who oversaw the training, supervision, and operational standards of signal personnel?

• Who was responsible for ensuring that adequate fail-safe mechanisms existed so that multiple simultaneous human errors could not culminate in catastrophe?

• Who allowed a notoriously gridlocked urban crossing to continue operating under procedures so heavily dependent on human intervention rather than automated safeguards?

This tragedy is not solely about the individuals directly involved in the final moments of failure. It is equally about the chain of oversight above them - those entrusted with creating systems robust enough to prevent foreseeable human mistakes from becoming mass-casualty events - and lets face it, this was entirely foreseeable - as foreseeable as the next bus full of tourists rolling down a ravine, the next overloaded truck killing xxx people with brake failure, the next Rama II collapse, the next person mown down on a pedestrian crossing, the next speeding high powered sport car being driven by a wealthy teen wiping out and killing people....

Too often in Thailand, accountability stops at the lowest operational level. The ordinary worker, driver, or operator is left exposed to public outrage and legal punishment, while those higher up the hierarchy remain insulated from scrutiny despite presiding over the very culture that allowed corners to be cut, standards to erode, and risk to become normalised.

That is the deeper issue here: not merely individual negligence, but endemic institutional failure which will continue to go on ignored - and continue to enable further tragedy.

You are correct sir. The entire SRT is responsible. This intersection and its problems have been well known for a very long time while nothing was done. Two scapegoats tarred and feathered will do little to address the root of the problem. Let's just pray that things will now change for the better. I think a good dose of public education on safe driving at crossings wouldn't hurt. The mindset of the people needs to change as well. This happened near where I live, it is a painful thing to think about.

11 hours ago, Sigmund said:

Very tragic of course, but if one was to stop say every member of parliament, every train or taxi driver or say all the staff in a hospital and give them a drug screening test, no matter where in the world.....chances are that the positive results would make public uproar. Drugs have infected and corrupted society all over the world and at every level. But what are the respective nations mainly in the west doing about it and what pressure are they putting on the drug producing nations or nations like Dubai giving safe havens to the kingpins ?

Something that it seems a lot of people are unaware of, but the residue from THC/Cannabis lingers in the body a long time after use. This means that even a casual user, who might light one up on a weekend, could be tested and penalized unfairly up to a week or more afterward. And come on, cannabis is in fact legal. It is very nearly harmless compared to other drugs including alcohol. As far as the big picture, you will never get rid of the problem of drug addiction and the associated crime. There are too many addicts who will never stop using, more born into it every day, in a society where a brand new heavy addiction in the form of vaping has been legally introduced and embraced with tobacco companies reaping in even more filthy nicotine addicts' money, there is too much money to be made, there is too much greed at the core of human nature.

UPDATE

Freight Train Broke Bangkok Daytime Ban

4 hours ago, Paul Henry said:

Who in their right mind would stop ON a railway crossing irrespective of any circumstances. Stop before the crossing or if by some chance you get blocked on the rossing back out evan if its on the wrong side of the road. If your stopped and not on the crossing you are safe. But then again this is Thailand!.

It's not just Thailand. It's human nature to behave as those around you behave without questioning it. "The herding instinct" is hard wired into our brains. I don't care where you're from, wherever you drive you have people illegally and dangerously tailgating other drivers as a matter of course, and it's accepted as status quo. Like cattle in a stampede. Hazardous driving habits come about because of ignorance, because of people driving as others do, and because of what's generally tolerated. In Thailand the ignorance could be addressed by public education tied to increased enforcement of laws. This is a proven successful strategy. But now is where I might agree with you - Thailand is woefully lacking in education and enforcement of safe driving, for reasons unknown other than the sheer incompetence of government, which is also not unique to Thailand.

Lots of things wrong.

It is a long time ago since my driver licence, but said, never stop on train section or crossings.

Anticipate and stop before. Leave the sections open.

Sad now, it is shown, people dont follow rules. Thailand different?

For the train I wonder about maintenance, did the brake work well?

I red breaks were activated 100 meters before. However 40 km/h , you need 200 meters, said in story.

it is Thailand and many things are wrong due to maintenance.

I once encountered almost a "car"on a highway, driving right, no lights, a piece of junk.

In the shimmer of light, evening, going up hill, saw silhouet- tish thing, didnt trust and shifted to left lane.

That was a good decision. At that time, steam was really coming out of my ears.

But Thai dont care, are worried about viruses, but traffic who cares?

On 5/18/2026 at 5:05 PM, Liverpool Lou said:

You insinuated that brake failure might be an issue because you said it would not be a defence, so it was you who suggested it.

Neither insinuated nor suggested, but never mind, you crack on.

I wonder if the CNG installation on the bus had automatic shut-off valves on the tank outlet? They are set to quickly close in the event of a surge in gas flow such as when the lines are ruptured or broken.

Of course, if the tank itself was ruptured, then those safety valves would be irrelevant.

So, now we have:

Train driver on drugs.

Train driver without a train driver license.

Freight train illegally going through Bangkok during a prohibited time period. They can only operate in Bangkok from 9pm to 5am.

Heads should roll, but likely won't.

6 hours ago, Jonathan Swift said:

Something that it seems a lot of people are unaware of, but the residue from THC/Cannabis lingers in the body a long time after use. This means that even a casual user, who might light one up on a weekend, could be tested and penalized unfairly up to a week or more afterward. And come on, cannabis is in fact legal. It is very nearly harmless compared to other drugs including alcohol. As far as the big picture, you will never get rid of the problem of drug addiction and the associated crime. There are too many addicts who will never stop using, more born into it every day, in a society where a brand new heavy addiction in the form of vaping has been legally introduced and embraced with tobacco companies reaping in even more filthy nicotine addicts' money, there is too much money to be made, there is too much greed at the core of human nature.

That depends entirely on the type of test being used.

THC metabolites can remain stored in body fat for a long time, especially in regular users, and may continue showing up in urine tests weeks or even months after any actual impairment has disappeared (as you mentioned).

Heavy exercise, dieting and rapid fat loss can sometimes increase the release of those metabolites from fat cells and thus in such cases urine could test positive many months later (i.e. a fat ex dope head on a diet).

Blood tests are different. They generally detect recent use over a much shorter timeframe and are more relevant to current impairment, although chronic heavy users can sometimes remain detectable longer than occasional users.

Urine testing therefore doesn’t necessarily prove someone was intoxicated at the time - only that cannabis metabolites were still present in the body and it was consumed at some point recently.

I’ve no idea what substance the driver actually tested positive for, but it could just as easily have been the more traditionally Thai consumed substances - yaba/methamphetamine or Krathom or another commonly used substance rather than cannabis.

…and, when so many failures existed at once - exposing multiple systemic, regulatory and political failures - the “drugs” angle quickly becomes the easiest and most politically convenient way to redirect national outrage away from the deeper institutional failures that actually allowed it to happen.

UPDATE

Train Driver at Control Before Bangkok Crash