URGENT! Train Derails in Southern Thailand

UPDATE : 18 December 2009

Train services to Southern Thailand have been temporarily halted after a Hat Yai-Chumporn train derailed in Nakorn Si Thammarat province.

-- Tan Network 2009-12-18

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www.thailandoutlook.tv/tan/ViewData.aspx?DataID=1022509

Edited December 18, 200916 yr by Crossy

So whats this 5 in about 5 months? Hope everyone is OK.

Edited December 18, 200916 yr by gotlost

Nobody was hurt, according to Thai news.

So whats this 5 in about 5 months? Hope everyone is OK.

Ditto on any casualties.

Isn't this the same line, part of the proposed-link from southern-China via Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand/Malaysia to Singapore, which is currently having the gaps filled-in at a cost of Billions of US$, and which they plan to run a lot of heavy-freight along ?

Time to scrap that plan, and build an all-new more-direct standard-gauge freight-line, which would be fit-for-purpose !

Nobody was hurt, according to Thai news.

That is always of course good to hear, but the trains seem to be slowly adopting the reliability and safety of of the feared Thai Bus system. What a pity, if there had been someone with a brain or a passion running this service (sorry forgot it was a public service!) it had competitive advantages. Never mind just another publicly run service ground into ruin by ineptitude, greed and indifference.

On another vibe, yet another example as to why the government (not only Thailand) cannot and should not run any business what so ever. Noboby cares with jobs for life, the managers don't, the employees don't and nor does the government. People need challenges or recriminations to perform.

So whats this 5 in about 5 months? Hope everyone is OK.

Ditto on any casualties.

Isn't this the same line, part of the proposed-link from southern-China via Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand/Malaysia to Singapore, which is currently having the gaps filled-in at a cost of Billions of US$, and which they plan to run a lot of heavy-freight along ?

Time to scrap that plan, and build an all-new more-direct standard-gauge freight-line, which would be fit-for-purpose !

Please Ricardo, that would make sense.

Edited December 18, 200916 yr by ratcatcher

Nobody was hurt, according to Thai news.

If it was in the States, most passengers would have complained of back or neck aches (even if it weren't for real) in order to get compensation.

I wonder since years where the BILLIONS of Baht from the tourists industry have gone. For sure not in the railway or its tracks.

I used it a couple of times and there was not only one ride where they arrived in time, minimum 2-6 hours late, No problem for me, i have time enough but the trains and the tracks are terrible and much top old.

Unbelivable for a country like Thailand, welcome to the 21st century!

btw. I really want to know why Phuket dont get its railway connection....Masters of wheels lobby too strong?

I wonder since years where the BILLIONS of Baht from the tourists industry have gone. For sure not in the railway or its tracks.

I used it a couple of times and there was not only one ride where they arrived in time, minimum 2-6 hours late, No problem for me, i have time enough but the trains and the tracks are terrible and much top old.

Unbelivable for a country like Thailand, welcome to the 21st century!

btw. I really want to know why Phuket dont get its railway connection....Masters of wheels lobby too strong?

Second that, A good rail line can be a great people and freight mover, pretty Green too. I now have second thoughts about train travel here. The trains from CM to BKK have gone downhill lately. Don't know about the rails but ???

I would hate to be in a top bunk if one went off the rails. "O" well TIT.

So whats this 5 in about 5 months? Hope everyone is OK.

Ditto on any casualties.

Isn't this the same line, part of the proposed-link from southern-China via Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand/Malaysia to Singapore, which is currently having the gaps filled-in at a cost of Billions of US$, and which they plan to run a lot of heavy-freight along ?

Time to scrap that plan, and build an all-new more-direct standard-gauge freight-line, which would be fit-for-purpose !

That would only make sense if Singapore and Malaysia also built standard gauge. I fear that the terrain precludes standard gauge in Thailand and these countries as it did in RSA.

Please Ricardo, that would make sense.

Forgive me, Lord, but I suffer from Optimism !

So whats this 5 in about 5 months? Hope everyone is OK.

Ditto on any casualties.

Isn't this the same line, part of the proposed-link from southern-China via Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand/Malaysia to Singapore, which is currently having the gaps filled-in at a cost of Billions of US$, and which they plan to run a lot of heavy-freight along ?

Time to scrap that plan, and build an all-new more-direct standard-gauge freight-line, which would be fit-for-purpose !

That would only make sense if Singapore and Malaysia also built standard gauge. I fear that the terrain precludes standard gauge in Thailand and these countries as it did in RSA.

Fully agree, but expecting these clapped-out metre-gauge lines to ever reliably carry serious volumes of freight, when trains are constantly derailing & existing lines are closed for months every year due to seasonal-rains, is unrealistic.

So yes, spending a serious lump of capital, on a properly-engineered more-direct route between China & Singapore, is a decision which has to be considered sometime. Why not now, when energy-efficiency is an issue, and governments need to boost their capital-spending to keep their economies ticking-over ?

And yes, of course it would need to be the same gauge and standard throughout, including all the other countries which the line would need to pass through. My main point is that patching-up the coastal lines in Vietnam & Cambodia, and building a couple of short connecting-links, isn't going to produce a transport-link for the next hundred years, if they still rely upon the current Thai single-track system on their way South to Malaysia.

Nobody was hurt, according to Thai news.

That is always of course good to hear, but the trains seem to be slowly adopting the reliability and safety of of the feared Thai Bus system. What a pity, if there had been someone with a brain or a passion running this service (sorry forgot it was a public service!) it had competitive advantages. Never mind just another publicly run service ground into ruin by ineptitude, greed and indifference.

On another vibe, yet another example as to why the government (not only Thailand) cannot and should not run any business what so ever. Noboby cares with jobs for life, the managers don't, the employees don't and nor does the government. People need challenges or recriminations to perform.

National Express rail franchise in UK mean anything to you?

Nobody was hurt, according to Thai news.

If it was in the States, most passengers would have complained of back or neck aches (even if it weren't for real) in order to get compensation.

You get back and neck aches and injuries just riding on the Thai bone shakers.