Clip of train caught in notorious Bangkok traffic goes viral

By The Nation

 

video screenshot

 

As graphic evidence of Bangkok's notorious traffic congestion, a Facebook user shot a clip of a train having to wait at a rail crossing on Tuesday afternoon and the clip went viral.

 

The clip was shot and posted on Tuesday evening by a Facebook user Takawit Thibthong. By afternoon Wednesday, the clip had been viewed over 1.9 million times, was shared more than 30,000 times, and received over 10,000 reactions.

 

Takawat said the crossing is under the Airport Rail Link above Makkasan Road.

 

The clip showed that one side of the road was filled with stationary vehicles, preventing the official from lowering barriers to block the railway for the train to pass through.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30358530

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-14

 

 

May I take a selfie in front of the train ??? without disturbing Thai netizens.

More to the point, how come this was not sorted out 20 years ago?

 

There must be many senior officers in the ministry / ministries responsible, none of them have done anything. They should all be dismissed for dereliction of duty and for serious incompetence.  

Edited November 14, 20187 yr by scorecard

Big new. It has been like that for years, every day. 

Some people even managed to take advantage of the stranded train by boarding it!

Level crossings don't come into effect until Thailand 5.0.

I remember the PM giving the relevant authorities one month to come up with solutions to Bangkok's traffic problems. Presumably they just put his request in the "too hard" basket or choose to ignore him completely. 

55 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Big new. It has been like that for years, every day. 

Exactly what I thought...

 

The train is stopping there for the station: some people jump out as they wanted to go there.

Then the train waits till the road is clear, something that takes a minute maybe with heavy traffic.

I presume this happens several times a day (assuming several trains pass there daily).

Nothing special...

It'd be more dangerous for crossing cars, because if the traffic is gridlocked, the unlucky ones will have to wait on the track for hours,........ and imagine if the upcoming trains don't stop,........... well???.............

7 minutes ago, MaxLee said:

It'd be more dangerous for crossing cars, because if the traffic is gridlocked, the unlucky ones will have to wait on the track for hours,........ and imagine if the upcoming trains don't stop,........... well???.............

It's happened at that very crossing, several cars mangled. Train driver "misjudged his stopping point".

Why would anyone stop across a railway line even if the barriers were up

 

Should not have moved to cross the line till your exit was clear.

 

A bit like those yellow box junctions where you are not supposed to enter till your exit is clear.

 

A bit to logical perhaps  

And they want high speed trains !!!!!   Not a cat in hells chance.

…and this clown gets his salary in a gift wrap?

2 hours ago, MaksimMislavsky said:

Some people even managed to take advantage of the stranded train by boarding it!

Some years ago I was on a train in  Bangkok that was held up due to signal failure and many of its passengers, including myself, climbed down and boarded taxis waiting in the road alongside.

Edited November 14, 20187 yr by Burma Bill
correction

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

More to the point, how come this was not sorted out 20 years ago?

 

There must be many senior officers in the ministry / ministries responsible, none of them have done anything. They should all be dismissed for dereliction of duty and for serious incompetence.  

But they have experience at "incompetence". Why replace them with learners at "incompetence"?  ???? 

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

More to the point, how come this was not sorted out 20 years ago?

 

There must be many senior officers in the ministry / ministries responsible, none of them have done anything. They should all be dismissed for dereliction of duty and for serious incompetence.  

I love it when farangs get on their high horses about what 'should be done' in someone else's country.

4 minutes ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

I love it when farangs get on their high horses about what 'should be done' in someone else's country.

I've lived in Isaan for 10 years and this story just highlights, for me, the haves and the have nots in Thailand.

 

Many of the people here have no running water or lecky. Virtually every household owes the bank something over 100k bhat.

 

Where I am, near the Mekong, the people have nothing. Every day it's a struggle for them. I help, as do others, when I can but the resident farangs can only do so much.

 

When I see all those fancy cars rushing about in BKK, I feel despair for the people.

No stopping zones don't exist here. Everyone stops wherever they like, only look in front. Who cares if anything coming from the side or behind as long as they are in front of everyone else.

 

if i've seen this once i've seen it a hundred times here in bangkok, it is simply not news - and any local will tell you so too.

Quite the norm for railways in 3rd world undeveloped countries. Last month India and the death carnage and mayhem there, most months here in LOS you see reports of interactions between trains and road vehicles at railway crossings, nothing new, no one is really bothered...

5 hours ago, Daffy D said:

Why would anyone stop across a railway line even if the barriers were up

 

Should not have moved to cross the line till your exit was clear.

 

A bit like those yellow box junctions where you are not supposed to enter till your exit is clear.

 

A bit to logical perhaps  

In a land where water flows up hill you are asking a lot.

3 hours ago, lvr181 said:

But they have experience at "incompetence". Why replace them with learners at "incompetence"?  ???? 

Point taken.

 

That's like saying if nothing changes then nothing will improve, so don't change anything and stay with incompetence. 

 

That's clearly not the right answer. 

 

1 hour ago, samsensam said:

 

if i've seen this once i've seen it a hundred times here in bangkok, it is simply not news - and any local will tell you so too.

Traffic is so bad everywhere I feel like a stoner without smoking weed. I just look at stuff like this and think wow dude, look at that, the train is stuck, hey check out the dude with the hijab chick riding sidesaddle, like HES GOING THE WRONG WAY, oh my god, check out the flag dude just walking around, hes all flipped out, bet if his boss sees this they will send him to Maha Chai hey if we were sitting there we could play some Elvis Costello and rock out, I wonder how they keep the pizzas warm for delivery ok nobodies dead yet, Im going to find a car crash, lets go.....

 

Bangkok is a trip ????????

Stupid buggers. They have damn-all idea of driving with any semblance of common sense.

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Point taken.

 

That's like saying if nothing changes then nothing will improve, so don't change anything and stay with incompetence. 

 

That's clearly not the right answer. 

 

The question is, would it be an improvement in incompetence?

10 hours ago, scorecard said:

Point taken.

 

That's like saying if nothing changes then nothing will improve, so don't change anything and stay with incompetence. 

 

That's clearly not the right answer. 

 

 

 

But probably the only answer in this scenario. 

16 hours ago, Daffy D said:

Why would anyone stop across a railway line even if the barriers were up

 

Should not have moved to cross the line till your exit was clear.

 

A bit like those yellow box junctions where you are not supposed to enter till your exit is clear.

 

A bit to logical perhaps  

 

A couple of times the barriers close, even when the traffic lights for the cars were still green. It happened to me 2 times, that I was almost devoured in the middle of the train track by those falling barriers,....... A scary thought..... This is Safety Thailand

This is normal, at Makkasan, see this happen every day. The road to asok is busy. This railroad is not really busy, just the line to the east (chachoensao). This wouldn't happen along the '' viphawadee'' railroad.

Years ago there were bars near  the Sukumvit crossing, great place to hang out and have a ???? 

living here in bangkok for 11 years and this always happens.

not sure why people are amazed. looks like a normal day in bangkok.