About 40 passengers injured in rear-end train collision

Ayutthaya: –A locomotive last night collided into the back of three-carriage express train parked to await signal for entering Ban Pha Chi Junction Station in the central province, police said.

Dozens of passengers have been injured and four are in serious condition. Some 150 uninjured passengers have been sent to a Buddhist temple to wait for the arrangements to complete their trip.

Police Lieutenant Yanchote Daokrachai, a duty officer of Ban Pha Chi police station, said he was alerted to the train collision which happened about 200 meters from the train station.

The Bangkok-Nong Khai express train had stopped at the Mab Phra Chan-Phra Kaew station which is the train parking area to and from the train junction station.

The locomotive for Bangkok-Den Chai train rear-ended the park train causing one of the three carriages to derail.

Passengers in the derailed carriage sustained injuries. The derailment happened to the sleeper carriage.

Three passengers were admitted for treatments of serious injuries at nearby hospitals. The driver of the locomotive sustained serious injuries and was also hospitalised.

Police suspect that the train traffic control at Ayutthaya train station might have erred in allowing the locomotive to pass through before the express train reached and parked at the junction station.

Phornsuthi Thongsad, spokesman of the State Railway of Thailand, said rail transportation to and from Bangkok and the North and the Northeast would be suspended until the completion of removing the collision wreckage.

The junction station serves to clear all trains to and from the capital bounded for the North and the Northeast.

The collision happened a day after the SRT celebrations for its 118th Anniversary.