Siemens Warned: Fix The Bangkok Subway!

[george]

Siemens warned of consequences if subway continues to fail

BANGKOK: -- The head of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), which oversees the Bangkok’s subway system, has warned Siemens Thailand, that persistent failures on the underground could affect the company’s future contract bids involving the expansion of the city’s mass transit system.

MRTA's Governor Prapat Chongsa-nguan dismissed suggestions that the failure

of the service on Sunday, the third in just over a month was the result of prematurely re-opening the service.

Siemens Thailand installed the service and should urgently address the problems, Mr. Prapat told journalists on Monday after attending an emergency meeting to discuss Sunday’s censorial failure, which resulted in the service being suspended.

“Continued and persistent failures may affect the company’s bid to supply carriages for the planned expansion of the underground system in the future,” said Mr. Prapat.

The Bangkok’s first subway system was suspended for a week after an accident on 17 January during the morning rush hours. More than 100 passengers were injured.

There was another power black-out days later.

On Sunday there was a censorial failure between the Phaholyothin and Chatuchak Stations, halting the service for two hours between 7-9 p.m.

Mr. Prapat said initial problems with the censorial system were fixed by the Siemen’s technical team on Sunday morning. But the problems re-emerged again in the afternoon.

The service was suspended for safety.

Technicians found a problem in a censorial box which caused it short-circuit. This was easily corrected.

Siemens have been asked to conduct another thorough check of the system and sort out all the flaws by mid March.

--TNA 2005-02-21

[george]

Officials: Discarded pen spring halted Bangkok's subway system

BANGKOK: -- A spring from a ballpoint pen has been blamed for recently halting service on Bangkok's fledgling and troubled subway system, officials said Tuesday.

The 5-centimeter (2-inch) coil apparently blew into a subway tunnel and atop a signaling box on the tracks, triggering an alarm that stopped trains on the line, said Praphat Jongsanguan, who heads the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand.

Service was halted on one line and disrupted elsewhere along the 24-kilometer-long (15-mile) system for about half an hour Sunday.

Investigators were looking into how the coil came to be lodged on the signaling box, he said. Problems have plagued the system since its opening in July last year.

The biggest mishap occurred in January when more than 200 passengers suffered injuries in a two-train collision.

About 150,000 passengers have been using the subway during each work day, thus avoiding Bangkok's traffic-clogged streets.

Planners had targeted usage at 300,000 a day.

-- AP 2005-02-22