No Light At End Of Tunnel For Subway

[george]

No light at end of tunnel for subway

BANGKOK: -- Subway train services were disrupted yesterday afternoon following a problem with the signal system, officials said. It was the fourth incident over the past month that has resulted in a service stoppage.

The service between the Phaholyothin and Thailand Cultural Centre stations was cancelled after the signal problem was detected at the Phaholyothin station, said Prapat Chongsa-nguan, the governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, the state agency that supervises the subway system.

Service continued us usual at other stations.

Witoon Hatairatana, the operations director of Bangkok Metro Co Ltd, the subway concessionaire, said yesterday that many passengers had to change trains to bypass the problematic portion of the route.

“The passengers had to wait longer than usual,” he said.

Witoon said services for the entire subway route would resume today.

Passengers yesterday expressed dissatisfaction at the frequent subway service stoppages, which they said had eroded their confidence in the system.

Yesterday’s incident follows the crash of two subway trains on January 17, in which more than 200 people were injured. There were brief suspensions of services on February 5 and 9, following a power failure and a platform sensor problem.

--TNA 2005-02-21

[george]

Signals failure brings city subway to a halt

BANGKOK: -- The city subway ground to a halt again yesterday after a signals failure, one month after a collision halted services for two weeks.

Computerised lights between Phahon Yothin and Chatuchak stations did not show green even though the line was clear. Faced with a red light, trains were not cleared to move.

The operator, Bangkok Metro Co Ltd, cut electricity to one of the tracks so repair staff could go into the tunnel to fix the problem, which occurred about 1pm and again about 4pm, a BMCL source said.

With only one track usable between Phahon Yothin and Chatuchak, the subway ran on a short loop from 7pm until 9.30pm, operating services on four sectors _ Hua Lamphong to Culture Centre, Culture Centre to Suthisan, Suthisan to Phahon Yothin and Phahon Yothin to Bang Sue. Passengers had to change trains.

Normal services resumed at 9.30pm.

The governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, Prapat Chongsanguan, seemed upset.

``I really want to know how it happened,'' he said.

The 21km service only resumed on Feb 1 after the Jan 17 crash which injured about 200 passengers.

On Feb 5, a power cut closed the subway for two hours.

--Bangkok Post 2002-02-21

[astral]

Is this a new Red Light District?

[Ned]

How's the new airport going to be? Engineers who see a problem in the making have got to throw all considerations of losing face out the window and speak up: "That's wrong and so is that and that!" etc

This new subway is a bit like that Honda that ended up under a slegehammer.

[Ned]

Sledgehammer

[sriracha john]

Signals failure brings city subway to a halt

BANGKOK: -- The city subway ground to a halt again yesterday after a signals failure, one month after a collision halted services for two weeks.

On Feb 5, a power cut closed the subway for two hours.

--Bangkok Post 2002-02-21

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Rode the subway only twice in February. On the 5th, it had a problem and yesterday, it had a problem. I'm not tempting fate for the inevitable 3rd time.

[george]

Subway resumes service after addressing technical problem

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok's subway system has resumed its service since last night after temporarily suspending its service at some certain stations due to a technical problem.

The system's censorial problem at its Phaholyothin Station had forced the underground train to suspend its service for some hours from its Chatuchak to Thai Culture Centre Stations and vice versa.

The service from the Bang Sue to the Chatuchak Stations, and from the Hualamphong to the Thai Culture Centre Stations had continued.

The subway allowed passengers who booked their tickets from the suspended stations to refund the fares.

Bangkok Metro Co., Ltd. (BMCL), the operator of the Bangkok's first subway system, told journalists Sunday evening that the technical problem had been addressed, and the subway could fully serve its passengers again from Monday morning.

"The censorial alarm system automatically activated with a loud noise at the Phaholyothin Station, prompting us to have to temporarily suspend our service at the certain stations for a safety check. After the thorough check from our experts, we found that nothing had been wrong, but the censorial alarm system was set to a very high level that it responded to only a minimal particle. We have reset the system to a more appropriate level", Maj. Gen. Chartchai Praditpong, head of the BMCL's promotion and activities division, told journalists.

Yesterday's incident was the third in just over a month, which forced the subway system to temporarily suspend its service.

The first on 17 January was caused by an accident in which an empty coach crushed into another parking for passengers at the Thai Culture Station, causing more than 100 people injured.

The second took place early this month, just days after the service was resumed, when the service faced a blackout for some hours.

The government has employed foreign experts to stand-by at the subway's stations to ensure passengers' safety since early this month.

The Bangkok's subway system officially opened to passengers in the third quarter of last year after its test runs since April 2004.

--TNA 2005-02-21

[Golf]

The Subway system is run by two companies. It's a problem right there. A bit funny, but sad about the 2nd time was that in the first 3 days after the crash, subway was closed and most Thai commuters wanted it to reopened sooner than 2 weeks. One said he would rather die because of accident underground than being struck on the street for 4 hours.

The problem is that there are far too many cars on the street. We don't need subway at all if we can control the car buying. Make it tougher to buy a car like income-based financing, family-sizing calculation (a family of 3 is alllowed to own only one car), or something like that.

Golf

[Sphere]

Relax, it was just one lousy pen spring.