Thai State Railways train derails in North, foreign tourists injured

[rubberduck]

The 2nd class fan wagons of the Bkk-Cm nighttrain are one of the best things in Thailand, and the restaurant has great food and atmosphere. It‘s a world on it's own and I absolutely love it.

Hopefully they get it up and running soon.

Send from my Asus FONEPAD

[bangkokheat]

very narrow gauge track, and the track appears to slope to one side, doesnt look like it would take much for it to topple over

[ETatBKK]

just pull out a statistic on 'causes of death' in Thailand in 2005 ( data released 2010 ).

ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS was the second high cause of death - male, 19.0% of deaths, female, 6.5% of deaths, by age 15-49 years old.

do you think travel by bus is also a good idea ?

[sprq]

That was always going to happen. Me and my kids have done BKK-CM several times on the train, and not once has it arrived less than 5 hrs late. And on two occassions it got nowhere near Chiang Mai. It got derailed one time and we had to wait an hour for a bus to drive us three hours to Chiang Mai up the hills.

You can see how ridiculous the "high speed rail link" plans are, when they can't even run this system. Invest for sure, but just make a train that works. We don't need high speed. We have planes for that, 30 minutes to CM, and hardly cost any more than the train.

Precisely. What Thailand needs is to upgrade from this pre World War 2 single track system to a double track system with express locomotives and carriages of the standard introduced in Europe half a century ago. That's all. High speed trains (i.e. bullet or TGV trains) in the Thai context are absolutely absurd. The only reasons they are being promoted are: 1) to increase Thailand's face, and 2) for the rake-offs to politicians, officials and contractors. There is of course one other possibility: complete stupidity.

[rubberduck]

Personally I find all those repeating negative, synical and off topic cliché reactions a very annoying thing on Thaivisa. Why do this frustrated old men want to live here anyway, just for their cheap beer ?

It‘s pathetic to post the same tone of responses in every random topic, this is Thailand and you know it.

Posting your opinion is not obligatory, if you'd think so.

Send from my Asus FONEPAD

[Rimmer]

Off topic posts inadvertently posted in the wrong forum removed

[gmac]

Terrible tragedy , surprised it didnt happen earlier when you see the state of the railways here .... I wish prompt recovery to all injured passenger.

Hardly a tragedy. Nobody died.

[thhMan]

OMG... transferred to BUS...!!!

That means speeding, overtaking carelessly and operated by a dimwit....

[ezzra]

A word of advice to the Thai government, lose less billions on corrupt and tainted rice

scheme and you will have more than enough money not only tis the tracks, but to

lay new ones all over Thailand,

[sjjmmi]

OMG... transferred to BUS...!!!

That means speeding, overtaking carelessly and operated by a dimwit....

My guess is that the train was speeding also to de-rail like it did

[Pib]

I can just see the cause of the accident in the government's investigation report: Too many farangs setting on one side of the train.

Edited July 17, 2013 by Pib

[Credo]

What is the bet the foreign tourist will pay hospital bills for this that would be covered everywhere else by the transport company.

That is why they want all the foreigners to have insurance.

[Hecate]

Glad no one was killed, and I hope the injuries are not serious. They must have all been sleeping, so that's good. I'd rather fly myself. You can get cheap fares now, and I like international regulatory systems when it comes to my personal safety.

It's not only Thailand. There was a terrible train derailment in Quebec a couple of weeks ago. It was all oil tanks, and they forgot to sent the brakes, so it slid down an incline on its own and crashed. Fifty people died. Also a bad derailment in France.

[harrry]

What is the bet the foreign tourist will pay hospital bills for this that would be covered everywhere else by the transport company.

That is why they want all the foreigners to have insurance.

Foreigners expect those negligent to be responsible. Actually I would like the travel insurance companies to press negligence claims in the court as they would in a western country. It may show there is some expectation of responsibility and competance when promoting tourists to come here.

[zydeco]

When I think of derailment, I usually think of some mechanical failure. I don't know about this. From the photos, it almost looks like the train just fell over and slid down an embankment. Why does the guage on Thai railways look like they were designed by Lionel?

[richard10365]

So glad Thailand doesn't have accidents as bad as the one that just happened recently in Canada where half of a city is destroyed.

[cloudhopper]

Personally I find all those repeating negative, synical and off topic cliché reactions a very annoying thing on Thaivisa. Why do this frustrated old men want to live here anyway, just for their cheap beer ?

It‘s pathetic to post the same tone of responses in every random topic, this is Thailand and you know it.

Posting your opinion is not obligatory, if you'd think so.

Send from my Asus FONEPAD

Say, did the engineer flee the scene?

[Guest]

very narrow gauge track, and the track appears to slope to one side, doesnt look like it would take much for it to topple over

I was looking the same. It's only 1 meter wide. The slope could be to compensate forces while going to the turn with some speed. Still the slope in the picture looks quite big.

From wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Railway_of_Thailand

The Northern Line was originally built as 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge, but in September 1919 it was decided to standardize on 1 meter gauge and the Northern Line was regauged during the next ten years.

Some other track widths http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge

[ShopBoy]

Now this new high speed rail project will be pushed forward

Project takers all happy

[sjjmmi]

Personally I find all those repeating negative, synical and off topic cliché reactions a very annoying thing on Thaivisa. Why do this frustrated old men want to live here anyway, just for their cheap beer ?

It‘s pathetic to post the same tone of responses in every random topic, this is Thailand and you know it.

Posting your opinion is not obligatory, if you'd think so.

Send from my Asus FONEPAD

Say, did the engineer flee the scene?

LOL

[beautifulthailand99]

Personally I find all those repeating negative, synical and off topic cliché reactions a very annoying thing on Thaivisa. Why do this frustrated old men want to live here anyway, just for their cheap beer ?

It‘s pathetic to post the same tone of responses in every random topic, this is Thailand and you know it.

Posting your opinion is not obligatory, if you'd think so.

Send from my Asus FONEPAD

Beer's no longer cheap if your base currency is sterling. The moaning on TVF is also part of the TIT experience. Mai bpen rai. Back on topic I like the trains in Thailand they can't go much more than about 20mph because of the state of the tracks and poor maintenance so as others have pointed out any accident is likely to be much less serious than if it was a well maintained properly run service. For those with mega bucks there is the Eastern Oriental Express that goes from Bangkok to Singapore imagine the grief if this derailed.

[harrry]

Personally I find all those repeating negative, synical and off topic cliché reactions a very annoying thing on Thaivisa. Why do this frustrated old men want to live here anyway, just for their cheap beer ?

It‘s pathetic to post the same tone of responses in every random topic, this is Thailand and you know it.

Posting your opinion is not obligatory, if you'd think so.

Send from my Asus FONEPAD

Say, did the engineer flee the scene?

LOL

Now just what do you have against old people?

[masuk]

That was always going to happen. Me and my kids have done BKK-CM several times on the train, and not once has it arrived less than 5 hrs late. And on two occassions it got nowhere near Chiang Mai. It got derailed one time and we had to wait an hour for a bus to drive us three hours to Chiang Mai up the hills.

You can see how ridiculous the "high speed rail link" plans are, when they can't even run this system. Invest for sure, but just make a train that works. We don't need high speed. We have planes for that, 30 minutes to CM, and hardly cost any more than the train.

Looking at the photos, it appears that the rail line is narrow gauge. Not too many places use this system. Surely a standard wide gauge would be safer and more comfortable for passengers.

[harrry]

That was always going to happen. Me and my kids have done BKK-CM several times on the train, and not once has it arrived less than 5 hrs late. And on two occassions it got nowhere near Chiang Mai. It got derailed one time and we had to wait an hour for a bus to drive us three hours to Chiang Mai up the hills.

You can see how ridiculous the "high speed rail link" plans are, when they can't even run this system. Invest for sure, but just make a train that works. We don't need high speed. We have planes for that, 30 minutes to CM, and hardly cost any more than the train.

Looking at the photos, it appears that the rail line is narrow gauge. Not too many places use this system. Surely a standard wide gauge would be safer and more comfortable for passengers.

Narrow guage is commonly used in many countries. It provides very signifigent benifits in regard to costs as infrastructure can be less.

Whether the line is Narrow Standard or Wide Guage would not mean that regular mainainance is not required.

[drdoom6996]

Not at all surprising, unfortunately. The rail system is in shocking condition and desperately needs upgrading, never mind the high speed project.

Preventative Maintenance, not an issue here. Keep the money flowing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well, now its broke.

[harrry]

That was always going to happen. Me and my kids have done BKK-CM several times on the train, and not once has it arrived less than 5 hrs late. And on two occassions it got nowhere near Chiang Mai. It got derailed one time and we had to wait an hour for a bus to drive us three hours to Chiang Mai up the hills.

You can see how ridiculous the "high speed rail link" plans are, when they can't even run this system. Invest for sure, but just make a train that works. We don't need high speed. We have planes for that, 30 minutes to CM, and hardly cost any more than the train.

Looking at the photos, it appears that the rail line is narrow gauge. Not too many places use this system. Surely a standard wide gauge would be safer and more comfortable for passengers.

Narrow guage is commonly used in many countries. It provides very signifigent benifits in regard to costs as infrastructure can be less.

Whether the line is Narrow Standard or Wide Guage would not mean that regular mainainance is not required.

[Thai at Heart]

Not at all surprising, unfortunately. The rail system is in shocking condition and desperately needs upgrading, never mind the high speed project.

Preventative Maintenance, not an issue here. Keep the money flowing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well, now its broke.

They are just jazzing up the line to Nong khai. All the budget has probably gone there

[Lancelot]

I'm not the least bit put off the train system. Any moment now one proactive official will decree some thing along the line of: "With in 90 days the entire rail system will be restored to like new condition."

Don't believe me? Remember some of the previous decrees: 90 days to eliminate illegal drugs; 90 days and all tourost police will be fluent in english.. I'm sure I've left out one or two enhancements.

I do admire the can do, positive spirit here

[Lite Beer]

Tourists hurt in Thai train derailment

BANGKOK, July 17, 2013 (AFP) - Foreign tourists were among 23 people injured when an overnight sleeper train derailed in Thailand early Wednesday, the national rail operator said.

The Bangkok-Chiang Mai express service was carrying almost 300 passengers when seven carriages came off the tracks in the northern province of Phrae, according to the State Railway of Thailand.

Eighteen foreign tourists suffered minor injuries, including visitors from Australia, France, Spain, China, Japan and the United States, as carriages toppled onto their sides.

"Derailments happen quite often," said State Railway of Thailand governor Prapat Chongsanguan, adding that the tracks were in the process of being upgraded.
"Initially we think that this time it's due to old rail track," he told AFP.
Services on the route were suspended for the day.

Safety standards are generally poor in Thailand and road traffic accidents are also common.
Thailand's cabinet in March approved a plan to spend $68 billion on a high-speed railway and other transportation mega projects to drive the nation's economic development.

Under the seven-year scheme, which has yet to be approved by parliament, 200 high-speed trains will whizz across the kingdom on four lines linking the capital Bangkok with the north, south and east of the country.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-07-17

[Nobelcat]

As being someone who's been on that same route when we derailed (I posted on ThaiVisa at that time too), the people on board who got injured or bruised said that the cause was the headrests (which on the sleepers store horizontally above your head) having detached and landing on them. Next time your ride the train, look at the headrest and think of how easily that's going to come down and crush you.