12th train derailment today: Thailand

[Halion]

Not at all suprising as this whole bloody country is derailed.

[greg71]

Three strikes and your out doesnt apply here .

[baboon]

HI ALL:

Trains come off the tracks all the time, everywhere 24/7. Here ,we/they build train tracks on loose subsoil with some base (rocks and clay) thrown in sometimes. Thailand is not all hard rock sub-base, a lot of it is a shifting mass like permafrost. If you want a good railroad here you must drive piles under every railroad tie...good luck with that one!!!!! it will run you into so much debt that a good train ride here will cost you 10 bux a klick, if you want great trains go somewhere else....having said that, the trains could be much better than the shit they are...engineering challenges are no excuse!!

cheers from civil engineers......go on! rip me a new one :>)

Regular patrols by PWay gangs might at least help. I don't see (m)any inspections round my way and yes, I am looking.

[rametindallas]

Could these derailments be due to some shifting, some stretching, of the earth itself? In which case, not due to human failure.

Maybe it was aliens from another planet.

[rametindallas]

Close down the whole line.. full stop.. blind leading the blind springs to mind.. Start building a complete new system..

Well, to give the SRT the credit that is their due, they have had more than 230 days this year without a derailment.

[rametindallas]

HI ALL:

Trains come off the tracks all the time, everywhere 24/7. Here ,we/they build train tracks on loose subsoil with some base (rocks and clay) thrown in sometimes. Thailand is not all hard rock sub-base, a lot of it is a shifting mass like permafrost. If you want a good railroad here you must drive piles under every railroad tie...good luck with that one!!!!! it will run you into so much debt that a good train ride here will cost you 10 bux a klick, if you want great trains go somewhere else....having said that, the trains could be much better than the shit they are...engineering challenges are no excuse!!

cheers from civil engineers......go on! rip me a new one :>)

Permafrost in Thailand? Did you, perhaps, sleep through Earth Sciences class?

[rametindallas]

The Transport Minister said his priority was clean toilets and fewer drunks. I would like to know how clean the toilets were on the derailed train and the percentage to drunks so I can know if the Transport Minister is successful in his job.

[jollyposty]

All will be fixed when they put the high speed trains in ....

Well, one line, anyway. Bad luck about all the other lines. They'll have to wait until the country can save up another 2.2 trillion baht.

I read that china will running it as they are paying for it..?? I feel safer now

[jollyposty]

The headline is a bit misleading, it looked to me as 12 trains derailed today.

It must be your hair mate. Getting in your eyes.

In English to satisfy your comprehension it would read

12th train derailed today.

That's English for you. Very precise.

the clue is in the th mate

[proovms]

It would be an idea to send these stories to big international news companies, getting a lot of bad publicity may make them do something about it.

[JepSoDii]

The State Railway of Thailand expects all train services to resume within 5pm today.

I don't know about you but I just can't wait to hop on!

Time for embassies to update their travel warnings before someone is killed?

Let us hope the big countries that provide a lot of tourists actually do something! Where are you, embassies or Russia, UK, China and US?

[JepSoDii]

Could these derailments be due to some shifting, some stretching, of the earth itself? In which case, not due to human failure.

Then the earth must be shifting/stretching in only Thailand

[shunima]

High Speed Trains in Thailand would be flying pigs.

Well, you have to admit that the BTS is (almost) flawless.

You're not so long with us, aren't you? Take a ride from Mo Chit until Bearing.

- Try to get one of the older trains, unless you like to fall over other PAX while stopping at the stations.

- Listen carefully once the trains leaves On Nut for the remaining 5 stations. Hear how the wheels scream on the tracks.

This is because the old line and the old trains are Siemens engineering work.

New trains = Chinese with Thai assembly put in action

New tracks = Substandard work of local companies.

Look at the new stations Bang Chak to Bearing. Ceilings leaking and stairs broken on the day they opened. Udom Suk has buckets standing around for dripping water since almost 2 years. Tracks between Phunnawithi and Udom Suk create noise that nearby Condos can't be sold.

[Seismic]

It's just becoming embarassing now...but as long as no-one says it to anyone's face, then no-one has lost face so everyone is happy................unless you are no-one

[Torrens54]

Very sad state of affairs and what can we expect if they get a High Speed Train?

Faster derailments perhaps???

[RubbaJohnny]

Part of the problem is old poorly maintained narrow tracks.

The pension liabilities and many crashes into illegal crossers.

`The Northern line has to cross several faults.However the Bristish built system in Myyanmar used by my dad still trundles along as does the Darjeeling "Toy train" with even smaller Bogies

Fortunately the very low speeds precluse the mass carnage seen recently in China ,Santiago de Compestela and Germany.

Let us not be too condescending in UK ,Clapham,Hatfield,Ealing and Lewisham all come to mind in the home of Railways.

It is still safer than balcony travel.

Edited September 4, 2013 by RubbaJohnny

[peecee]

Went north to Phitsanulok once; only once! The NE route to Surin wasn't half so bad though.

[jollyposty]

You have to admit that the locals here are awfully good at doing things badly.

they are not just awfully good Celtic they are pro's at duckinging up

[EyesWideOpen]

Not sure what is going on. Either this system is run by complete imbeciles, or all these derailments are

intentional and part of some master plan by the railroad system to get more funding.....

[JAG]

It's only a ballast wagon off at a work site - happens all the time all over the world.

SRT needs investment badly and much of their rolling stock and motive power is old and rather battered ( although as a railway enthusiast I love it) , but it is infinitely safer than travelling by aircon bus, or heaven help us with those maniacs in munivans.

If only they would get on with building the Chiang Rai branch - that will run past the bottom of my garden!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Whidbeyboy]

...And another one.

Sounded like 12 just today. Why don't they hire someone to do the editing that can translate.

[MaxYakov]

HI ALL:

Trains come off the tracks all the time, everywhere 24/7. Here ,we/they build train tracks on loose subsoil with some base (rocks and clay) thrown in sometimes. Thailand is not all hard rock sub-base, a lot of it is a shifting mass like permafrost. If you want a good railroad here you must drive piles under every railroad tie...good luck with that one!!!!! it will run you into so much debt that a good train ride here will cost you 10 bux a klick, if you want great trains go somewhere else....having said that, the trains could be much better than the shit they are...engineering challenges are no excuse!!

cheers from civil engineers......go on! rip me a new one :>)

Permafrost in Thailand? Did you, perhaps, sleep through Earth Sciences class?

Maybe he meant 'permamud'?

[chooka]

Sun came up this morning as usual, so what time did the train derail today?

[normac44]

Watched a You tube clip last night of the Bangkok - Chiang Mai o/night express. My god the rail line looked so old and decrepit. No wonder the trains are always going off the rails. A couple of years back I was on the train in Kanchanaburi doing the tour around the death rail & the old yellow diesel loco blew up. One of the Thai rail workers told me the locos came from Iran or one of the middle eastern countries.

[Rimbuman]

I am officially scared of all means of transportation in Thailand. Until this year at least I had the trains.

buses are not to proper specs and are top heavy

vans have madmen at the wheel

taxis will beat you for a nickel

motortaxis have you hanging on for dear life

now trains are tipping over.........

p.s. boats are known to crash/sink

Buffaloes ?

Elephants.

[Tatsujin]

Thailand the whole world is laughing at you. Close the bloody thing and fix it. It is very obvious that it is broken and doesn't work and if you can't see that then you definitely don't deserve to be part of the global community. If all your engineers bought their degrees at university and are just simply dimwits then save some face and hire a few external ones who can fix it for you.

Chew faster people we need more gum.

Chooka, with the Thais attitude to themselves and that the rest of the world doesn't really exist and certainly doesn't matter do you think they don't realise that this does get reported outside of the country in travel publications, on TV travel shows and the like or just don't care.

Don't worry TAT will kiss it all better.

They don't care what the outside world thinks because Thai's are superior in every single way, and besides this, they treat foreigners in the same way as they treat those from the semi-educated provinces, do and think as we say or . . .

[jalansanitwong]

Eventually they'll have to shut the system down because theyre going to run out of carriages.

How many are left that are even remotely operational.?

Could be time to whip out the super glue.

Whose maintaining these trains and carriages.....Thai's ?

Better off bringing in some Indians to maintain the system.

What a mess.

[hellodolly]

...And another one.

We're almost to the point it doesn't need reporting anymore. We can just wake up in the morning and ask ourselves, 'I wonder how the derailment went today?'.

Yes it is getting to the point of road rage in North America. Not worth reporting it is a sure fire every day event like the sun coming up in the East.

A nation wide rail system going to ruin and they are trying to borrow 2.2 trillion baht that will take 50 years to pay off and use it on infrastructure such as High Speed Trains. Which will be as unmaintained as the regular trains.

Do you have to stay below a certain level of concern for the people to be a politician.

[gosompoi]

Okay so today is a new day where is the 13th train derailment?

[bangon04]

High Speed Trains in Thailand would be flying pigs.

Well, you have to admit that the BTS is (almost) flawless.

You're not so long with us, aren't you? Take a ride from Mo Chit until Bearing.

- Try to get one of the older trains, unless you like to fall over other PAX while stopping at the stations.

- Listen carefully once the trains leaves On Nut for the remaining 5 stations. Hear how the wheels scream on the tracks.

This is because the old line and the old trains are Siemens engineering work.

New trains = Chinese with Thai assembly put in action

New tracks = Substandard work of local companies.

Look at the new stations Bang Chak to Bearing. Ceilings leaking and stairs broken on the day they opened. Udom Suk has buckets standing around for dripping water since almost 2 years. Tracks between Phunnawithi and Udom Suk create noise that nearby Condos can't be sold.

How long were these stations standing around deteriorating before they were actually used?