Airport Rail Link vows to be better serve aged, handicapped

[webfact]

Airport Rail Link vows to be better serve aged, handicapped

By The Nation

 

FILE photo

 

Airport Rail Link on Monday pledged to add portable ramps and do away with platform gaps at all stations, as it seeks to better serve older customers and those travelling with wheelchairs.

 

Suthep Phanpeng, vice-president of SRT Electrified Train Co Ltd, which runs the rail link, said the company now has a policy to make its services friendly to the aged, as the country approaches status as an aged society.

 

Seniors would also get a 50 per cent fare discount on Airport Rail Link and toilets will be installed at all stations for the elderly, and will include buttons enabling those travelling alone to call for help from staff at the stations, said Suthep.

 

New ramps will be built so wheelchair users and the aged could more easily access the stations from the sidewalks, and portable ramps will help people move from the platform onto the train, he added.

 

Suthep said beds and first-aid treatment rooms would also be built at all stations to serve ill passengers who may need to rest in case of emergency. Staff at the station would also be trained to provide emergency care to sick passengers, he added.

 

Suthep said the Airport Rail Link was now in the process of carrying out a narrowing of the platform gaps so as to prevent aged people or general passengers from accidentally falling into them and getting hurt.

 

The Airport Rail Link would also install moist fans to cool off passengers when the stations are crowded, Suthep added.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30368532

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-04-29

[ChipButty]

I wonder whats brought all this on? Thailand never recognized invalids and handicapped people before 

[RobMuir]

4 hours ago, ChipButty said:

I wonder whats brought all this on? Thailand never recognized invalids and handicapped people before 

Complete Krap.

 

A relatively high number of disabled persons in Thailand and their exclusion from normal daily life/employment led Ministry of Labour to establish the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons Act (1991). This act actively supported the disabled by imposing duties on employers in relation to the employment practices and is still in force until this day. Updated versions of the original act were introduced in 2007 and 2010.

According to the latest act, both public and private organisations with more than 100 employees are mandated to hire persons with disabilities in the ratio of one disabled person to every one hundred regular employees (1:100).

Employers and business owners complying with their duties are entitled to tax relief as prescribed by law. In special cases, where the organisation’s workforce consists of 60% or more disabled employees (employed for more than six months in the fiscal year), a total tax exemption can be claimed.

However, if the qualified organisations do not meet the government regulations, they are required to contribute to the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons Fund on an annual basis. The contribution amounts to the minimum wage a disabled worker would have been paid. Any delays in payment will result in imposing an interest rate of 7.5% per year (calculated from the amount that was not remitted to the Fund).

[a977]

11 hours ago, ChipButty said:

I wonder whats brought all this on? Thailand never recognized invalids and handicapped people before 

Pinocchio and Ol' fatty getting ready for early retirement!!!!!!!!!

[wpcoe]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Seniors would also get a 50 per cent fare discount on Airport Rail Link...

I wonder if that would apply to non-Thai seniors.  I get a discount on MRT but not on BTS.

[newnative]

   Nice they are doing that but I just took the airport rail link yesterday morning from the airport and I can tell you it needs a lot more than that.  It was meant to transport airport passengers into the city but now serves as a commuter line. It is so crowded that commuters are getting on the train to the airport and staying on it when it arrives.  Why?  Because they are assured they will be able to ride back to the city. 

    The train was crowded with airport passengers at the start and at each stop got more and more crowded.  By the 3rd stop, it was so crowded that waiting passengers could not get on the train at all.  Absolutely horrible.  By the time we got to Makkasan, my partner and I were wondering if we would even be able to fight our way to the exit to get off.  Terrible.  They need to add non-stop airport trains at a higher price and add more cars and more frequent runs to the other ones.  I wonder if the airport link bigwigs ever actually try out their service and I recommend they start with a morning or 5pm trip sometime.  

[newnative]

3 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

They had them... the trains with red lines and EXPRESS LINE written on them. But ... I was always counting how many passengers were on these - and there were never more than there are fingers on one hand.

It was just sad watching empty trains going between airport and Makkasan (later Phyathai) so when they ran out of parts for the blue trains, they just canibalised the red ones and moved them into city line service.

It was however an issue of the price. The City line took only less than 10 minutes longer to get to the airport and you could board it at any station, while Express line was only available at 2 stations and cost over 3x more than most expensive City line fare (15-45 THB vs 150 THB).

   Yes, and how long ago was that?  In just the past few years 3 huge condo projects were built by one of the airport link stations--I think the 3rd one.  First it was a massive 2 building 30 story Lumpini project and now two other 30 story projects have been built next to it--in the last 2 years.  At least 2000 condos--and possibly commuters--added.  And, that's just 1 stop.  They might try adding express runs again and I think they would get a few more takers.  I'd gladly pay 200 baht to have an alternative to the ride I took yesterday.  Or, just add more cars and runs instead of eliminating them.

[Bangkok Barry]

All of the train services in Bangkok run Micky Mouse trains with just a few carriages. Very long platforms, very short - and overcrowded - trains. Bangkok has approximately the same population as both London and New York. In London, they run eight carriages, in New York 12 most of the time. Bangkok runs four. Why? Because the people who make that decision, which can only be to provide shareholders bigger profits, is because they never use the trains themselves. They have no interest at all in providing a comfortable and efficient service.

[newnative]

35 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

All of the train services in Bangkok run Micky Mouse trains with just a few carriages. Very long platforms, very short - and overcrowded - trains. Bangkok has approximately the same population as both London and New York. In London, they run eight carriages, in New York 12 most of the time. Bangkok runs four. Why? Because the people who make that decision, which can only be to provide shareholders bigger profits, is because they never use the trains themselves. They have no interest at all in providing a comfortable and efficient service.

Great post.  They keep adding stations--and at every station large condo projects are being built--but still the same old 4 car trains, at too slow intervals.  I still chuckle at the first time my partner and I used the airport link.  We saw all the people waiting were clustered in the middle of the platform so we decided to wait a little farther out.  The train station attendant had to come over and tell us the train wasn't that long.

[newnative]

49 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Never tried to take a train at HK Central during rush hours, I'd guess.

So, if one place is bad that makes it ok for other places to be bad, too?   Let's all strive to be the worst.  Yaa!  We're just as awful as ____________.  Fill in the blank.  We thought about taking a taxi but the roads are gridlock, the train is faster, and our condo is close to Makkasan--which is one of the reasons we bought it.

[Lancashirelad]

The express trains had proper comfortable seating and luggage racks, something one might expect on a train operating an airport service.