Temporary shutdown of 300km northbound rail line to begin Sept 16

[webfact]

Temporary shutdown of 300km northbound rail line to begin Sept 16
By English News

BANGKOK, Sept 13 - The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) will temporarily close a significant stretch of the popular northern rail route from Sila At in Uttaradit to the end of the rail line in Chiang Mai for 45 days following a number of recent derailments across the country.

Sila At station officer Poonsawas Ounaimjai said the station has informed the public in advance and apologised the passengers for any inconvenience during the maintenance, starting from September 16 to the end of October.

The railroad renovation will prompt operations of Special Express (Nakhonping) No.1 Bangkok – Chiangmai and Special Express 13 Bangkok - Chiang Mai. Other trains can still operate normally, though the route will end at Sila At station and passengers who booked their tickets in advance will be provided alternate connections; free air conditioned buses during the 45-day rail maintenance.

So far 90 per cent of the passengers have refunded their tickets, while the rest are likely to stick to their plan.

Small crowd is observed today at Sila At station, three days before the track closure.


-- TNA 2013-09-13

[CelticBhoy]

I guess we will see a huge number of bus crashes in the north during this time.

I do hope not, but I fear that will be the case.

[jackr]

If this is a bid to keep the number of rail incidents down, I like their style.

[jaidam]

When the tracks are in such shoddy state that stationary trains are toppling off them it is definitely time for some repair work. Can we try to get at least 70% of the budget spent on the tracks rather than it all being swallowed up by the ruling greedy vultures.

I would rather be on a stationary train that derails than one travelling at 400kph. This high speed rail is making me nervous, good for transporting rice or vegetables etc but not sure if human transport is viable on such a system here.

[kcore]

Are there any passengers left? Not me!

[NongKhaiKid]

Is there any chance a decent job of maintenance will be done or will it be rushed to get the line open again ?

There's always the likelihood that a lot of the budget has / or will disapear and the risk of losing tourist money plus the almost mandatory cutiing corners all of which can result in a botched job.

[Kilgore Trout]

Yingluck has promised a high speed rail in a couple of years but they can't even operate or maintain a regular train route properly

[lee b]

Better late than never i suppose

[happynthailand]

wife has a brother who works for the railroad

he told her that people are stealing the big nuts an bolts plus the plates that are holding the rails togeather

they then sell them as scrap

he said the railroad is going to install " newer" bolts & nuts that are harder to remove after being installed (weld them on would be a good idea)

Edited September 13, 2013 by happynthailand

[Cuban]

Good news - responding to a problem.

[RickBradford]

Is there any chance a decent job of maintenance will be done or will it be rushed to get the line open again ?

Neither, from what I saw on the TV at lunchtime, a gang of dudes swinging a concrete sleeper in on a cradle. not a machine in sight.

They hadn't even taken the rails up, just slotting the new sleeper into the gap left by the old one.

[thairookie]

"The railroad renovation will prompt operations of Special Express (Nakhonping) No.1 Bangkok – Chiangmai and Special Express 13 Bangkok - Chiang Mai."

What does the above sentence mean ?

[nong38]

A step in the right direction, close the line and sort it out, good luck.

[biplanebluey]

"The railroad renovation will prompt operations of Special Express (Nakhonping) No.1 Bangkok – Chiangmai and Special Express 13 Bangkok - Chiang Mai."

What does the above sentence mean ?

My thoughts too-----Any help anyone ?????

[JepSoDii]

When the tracks are in such shoddy state that stationary trains are toppling off them it is definitely time for some repair work.

I was thinking the same thing but perhaps after derailment #1 would have been a good time.

[GeorgeO]

When the tracks are in such shoddy state that stationary trains are toppling off them it is definitely time for some repair work. Can we try to get at least 70% of the budget spent on the tracks rather than it all being swallowed up by the ruling greedy vultures.

I would rather be on a stationary train that derails than one travelling at 400kph. This high speed rail is making me nervous, good for transporting rice or vegetables etc but not sure if human transport is viable on such a system here.

and the proposed closure period is six weeks...!!? What do they hope to achieve in such a brief period?

I have commented previously on the camber of the tracks in that area; the coaches are leaning at around 20 degrees, which means that either the tracks were very poorly laid in the first place, or the subsidence over the years has reached such a level that the whole track needs to be dug up and relaid.

I would hazard a guess that in the West, this would be a twelve to eighteen month job...!

[Ulic]

This will either give the railroad company time to repair the tracks or the metal recyclers unhindered access

to the tracks to pull out more spikes and bolts.

[BuriramRes]

The camber on the tracks is in readiness for the high-speed trains?????????????

[ignosympathnoramus]

I was in a train wreck in Hua Hin, October 2009 if memory serves...killed a dozen or so people and I hurt my leg. With so much of the Thai economy based on tourism, I really don't understand why they can't get this under control. Don't the "greedy vultures" also have a financial stake in the countries reputation, tourism dollars, etc? baffling

[1plumber]

When the tracks are in such shoddy state that stationary trains are toppling off them it is definitely time for some repair work. Can we try to get at least 70% of the budget spent on the tracks rather than it all being swallowed up by the ruling greedy vultures.

I would rather be on a stationary train that derails than one travelling at 400kph. This high speed rail is making me nervous, good for transporting rice or vegetables etc but not sure if human transport is viable on such a system here.

My thoughts exactly. I almost fell over when this whole high speed train thing came up. I was like that concept is so cool.....anywhere that it would be properly built and maintained and operated. So many things like this here. Conceptually great but lets just slow down and do it right and spend the money properly so that we can have an end result that we can rely on and be proud of even after the shine has faded. Sadly it has never been so and I can not see how it ever can be. I'm sure I will ride the high speed system at some point but not util some sort of "track record" has been established.

[KOZMO]

What is hard to believe is that I rode these same trains from ubon Thailand to Bangkok starting in the early 70's 71=72 and

I see no difference today except allot fewer accidents back in the 70's.

Edited September 13, 2013 by KOZMO

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

"The railroad renovation will prompt operations of Special Express (Nakhonping) No.1 Bangkok – Chiangmai and Special Express 13 Bangkok - Chiang Mai."

What does the above sentence mean ?

I'm guessing it means we should substitute the word "cease" or "halt" for their use of the word "prompt."

No way to know for sure, but that seems a likely guess.

Meanwhile, so 90% of passengers are canceling rather than take the bus into CM???

Ha! I guess that means people are MORE afraid of the buses than they are of the trains... But I'm sure the trains are moving up rapidly on the "fear factor" rankings list. Good job SRT!

[HannahD]

What is hard to believe is that I rode these same trains from ubon Thailand to Bangkok starting in the early 70's 71=72 and

I see no difference today except allot fewer accidents back in the 70's.

And far, far better on time performance.

[Ricardo]

Yingluck has promised a high speed rail in a couple of years but they can't even operate or maintain a regular train route properly

The High-Speed route, promised by PM Thaksin Yingluck & her PTP-coalition, is as-yet unfinanced and will anyway only run to Uttaradit, on current plans.

Perhaps it makes more sense just to close the hilly/curvy, prone-to-subsidence-and-landslides section of this line from Uttaradit to Chiang Mai, every August/September when the monsoon & consequent-derailments are at their worst ? These problems do occur most years, although this year seems especially bad, or perhaps it's just being reported more-closedly in the media.

A part-time rail-link to the part-time-PM's home town ?

Edited September 14, 2013 by Ricardo

[harada]

Chances are that most of the money allocated for track maintenance over the years was spent on Beemers and Hi So parties .

[vagabond48]

I don't think this would effect tourism since foreigners that use these trains tend to be budget travelers generally buying the limited sleeper tickets.

The bulk of the passengers are Thai. As memory serves me, Thais have in the past and may still be able to ride for free. So where is the motivation to spend money?

[jalansanitwong]

Good to see theyre closing down the nth line for repairs but wont hold my breathe.

45 days to repair 300 km.....thats about 7 km a day in often oppressive climatic condtions ie rain,floods and heat...

Alot of supplies will be stolen by people with influence and sent to Rayong for scrap.

I cant see Thai men queing up for this work for 250 b a day.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I can't see how they're likely to accomplish much meaningful in the timeframe they've laid out, given the pace at which construction/repair work typically occurs here, unless they end up pushing back the completion date as also typically occurs.

Or, it may be be a band-aid approach, they'll spend and equally siphon off a ton of baht, and then we'll be reading about more train derailments in a month or two.

[thaibeachlovers]

wife has a brother who works for the railroad

he told her that people are stealing the big nuts an bolts plus the plates that are holding the rails togeather

they then sell them as scrap

he said the railroad is going to install " newer" bolts & nuts that are harder to remove after being installed (weld them on would be a good idea)

One has to ask why they still use nuts and bolts when most good railways weld their tracks?

[thaibeachlovers]

I don't think this would effect tourism since foreigners that use these trains tend to be budget travelers generally buying the limited sleeper tickets.

The bulk of the passengers are Thai. As memory serves me, Thais have in the past and may still be able to ride for free. So where is the motivation to spend money?

Thais can still ride for free, but I understand it's only in 3rd class.