BREAKING: Power outage forces closure of Airport Rail Link

[Emster23]

I would like to take that train from Ramkhamhaeng to airport tomorrow, as I am going to USA. Any ideas where to find somewhat reliable status report tomorrow? I love that train, and tho may have flaws, is sooo much better, faster and cheaper than alternatives.

[BuaBS]

What about all the people who had to catch their airplane ? Even if they made it , all dripping from sweating ready for their 12 hour flight home....

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm not sure about the ARL trains... But the BTS trains have emergency door release levels at each door exit area.. Supposedly, you can pull that lever down, and then manually push open the doors, if need be.

[727Sky]

All I can say is, "What a miserable time being stuck in that situation for over an hour in the heat and crowded conditions".

[elgordo38]

That Airport link cost a lot of baht!

Thailand is, I suppose, an "emerging" country so these things happen. As time goes by I'll hope along with others the power outages are less and less frequent.

Not third world but emerging for sure..

Thailand has been an "emerging" country for at least 50 years. Unfortunately, the country seems to be moving towards an "emergency" status.

The Airport Link could have been a great business opportunity to SRT and a superb alternative way travelling into Bangkok for people coming from areas east and southeast of the capital. Unfortunately, it seems to be falling apart, and little is done to develop the line. To short trains, lacking parking facilities at the stations, inefficient stations, infrequent departures. The express line? Shut down because of lacking maintenance.

Money for subs, tanks, guns more troops missiles, boats, etc but no money to maintain infrastructure.

[jrward42]

As is often the case here, I think there's more to this story than is being reported or told... Reason being...

My wife takes the ARL to and from work every day, including the Ramkhamhaeng and Huamark sections of the route. And last week, in the evening on the way home one day, her ARL train got stuck/stalled coming out of Huamark toward Ramkhamhaeng for about a half hour.

From what she told me, the power didn't go out, but the train couldn't move, was well away from the Huamark station so passengers couldn't just exit back into the station, and the train kept going forward and back a bit trying to move. And like today's incident, little or no announcement/information passed along to the passengers.

To me, it seems pretty unlikely that they'd have two breakdowns in basically the same location a few days apart, and not have some connection/relationship between the two.

I believe the prior problem was around 5 pm last Friday, March 18. And the ARL Facebook page in Thai language seems to have some discussion of it, as well.

https://www.facebook.com/PR.ARL

I was on that train on Wednesday. Got on at Hua Mark and the train didn't move for 5 minutes. It then reversed and went back about 50 feet and we were stuck there for 30 minutes. We were switched to the central line and finally the train moved and went to Ramkhamhaeng. Most of us then fled, although it seemed like the train was going to keep going. There was aircon but it was packed.

Then on Friday, the display said 23 minutes till the next train, yet 3 minutes later a train arrived coming from the wrong direction (i.e. from Ramkhamhaeng). It was a brand new train and being a glutton for punishment I got on and it went back to Rhamkamhaeng. Nice train with an extra carriage and lots of space.

So, just a guess, they are testing some new trains and it is messing things up a bit. Rush hour is probably not ideal. Like an idiot I am about to make the journey again in 20 minutes. There aren't a lot of options where I work. Hopefully it is ok now or it will be walk then a taxi and traffic.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thanks for posting on that... And you are correct, the problem you and my wife had on the ARL train getting stuck at Huamak was last Wednesday around 5:30 p.m. So then apparently, as you experienced, there was ANOTHER problem two days later on Friday in the same general area (the one that is discussed on the ARL Thai Facebook page). And now today's problem in the same general location.

So that seems to make THREE different breakdowns/problems in one area of the ARL line around Huamak and Ramkamhaeng in just the past week. As I said, something more is going on than just the power outage excuse being given publicly today.

[lvr181]

That Airport link cost a lot of baht!

Thailand is, I suppose, an "emerging" country so these things happen. As time goes by I'll hope along with others the power outages are less and less frequent.

Not third world but emerging for sure..

"Not third world but emerging for sure.." Emerging as a third world? You optimist you.

[metisdead]

A post containing a link to a disallowed site has been removed.

[Kabula]

I wonder if anyone used the intercom speaker inside or a cell to call for emergency services in a timely manner?

[ratcatcher]

That Airport link cost a lot of baht!

Thailand is, I suppose, an "emerging" country so these things happen. As time goes by I'll hope along with others the power outages are less and less frequent.

Not third world but emerging for sure..

Thailand has been an "emerging" country for at least 50 years. Unfortunately, the country seems to be moving towards an "emergency" status.

The Airport Link could have been a great business opportunity to SRT and a superb alternative way travelling into Bangkok for people coming from areas east and southeast of the capital. Unfortunately, it seems to be falling apart, and little is done to develop the line. To short trains, lacking parking facilities at the stations, inefficient stations, infrequent departures. The express line? Shut down because of lacking maintenance.

Money for subs, tanks, guns more troops missiles, boats, etc but no money to maintain infrastructure.

Sounds familiar to me, but then we are living in a third world country (according to some experts here on TVF,) so, mostly dreams. No subs yet, no missiles yet, but guess who has everything?

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ ( a smorgasbord for thought.)

[hansnl]

As a former railway employee I can assure all that things like this can happen in any country, and actually happens.

Regulary!

Thing is, is there staff to adquately and safely help the stranded passengers out of the train and guide them safely to the next station.

Seen the raised lines the safety of the passengers is rather uncertain walking along the stranded train and to the next station.

Come to mind a story about the driver of a stranded train in the Netherlands asking strong passengers to help push the train to the next station about a kilometer away.

They did.

A diesel locomotive stationed here and there on strategic points and a suitable trackplan to reach the stranded train are the answer.

[geriatrickid]

You have to ask how many times this has happened before,

having used this trip so many times myself i think it is

a great service, cheap and normally a time saver.

Unlucky for those who where on the train, man made things do break down

how quick to rubbish a service that on the whole has been a good thing.

I don't think the train is being rubbished. Rather people are aghast at the gross negligence, which would be considered criminal in countries with a transparent and functional police and judicial system that has integrity. The fact that no one responded until there were injuries, and that there was no operational incident plan speaks volumes. I too have used the train, however, I expect that the only reason there haven't been fatalities to date is that the foreign suppliers of the control equipment did as much as possible to reduce human factors. No excuse for the aftermath.

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed as well as a reply.

[taony]

Thanks for posting on that... And you are correct, the problem you and my wife had on the ARL train getting stuck at Huamak was last Wednesday around 5:30 p.m. So then apparently, as you experienced, there was ANOTHER problem two days later on Friday in the same general area (the one that is discussed on the ARL Thai Facebook page). And now today's problem in the same general location.

So that seems to make THREE different breakdowns/problems in one area of the ARL line around Huamak and Ramkamhaeng in just the past week. As I said, something more is going on than just the power outage excuse being given publicly today.

Isn't that also the area where there is the loud bang when pass over a certain spot between the two stations? This is going westbound.

[lamyai3]

Luckily for the SRT they were all Thai citizens who can stand some heat.

If the trains were full of overweighted farang just coming from their cold countries there would have been heartattacks i guess.

But they waited one hour before enforcing the doors? Were there no lifehammers around to smash the windows?

For sure i won't be in the new BTS-routes to test them. This is my worst nightmare come through and what a mismanagement to let the passengers suffer in the trains without any help.

I have sat more than a few times on a fully loaded BTS train when someone pushes the pause button for longer than 5 minutes. Almost always there is some kind of announcement, most of the time it COMES AFTER THE TRAIN STARTS MOVING to tell us what we already know - there will be a delayed service.

More than a few times, I have gotten on the BTS to find the aircon off, or simply blowing warm air.

I feel the same about closed train cars, particularly when it is 90 degrees and the humidity is 79% which it was this morning at 9am. In these conditions, if the train stopped and all power was cut, I think I would last about 10 minutes before I took one of those hammers and smashed the door to open it, if I had not lost consciousness yet. Not sure if I would hop onto the hot tracks but opening the windows and doors would definitely be done. If that failed I would take my chances on the tracks, careful to stay away from the 3rd rail. I can take the heat but not in a train with a lot of other people. I would freak out.

Agree, I experienced a breakdown of the a/c on the bts last year. Luckily the train itself was still functioning and I was able to get out of there within a few minutes. It must have been horrendous to be stuck on the airport link in packed rush hour conditions for an hour, I'm not at all surprised some people were hospitalized.

[MaiChai]

SRT. Do I need say more? Government organisation responsible for quality train transportation in Thailand?

[teatree]

The ARL is a very poorly designed system which reminds me a lot of the movie 'Idiocracy'.

It's as if they looked at everything good about the BTS and decided to do the opposite.

[teatree]

As is often the case here, I think there's more to this story than is being reported or told... Reason being...

My wife takes the ARL to and from work every day, including the Ramkhamhaeng and Huamark sections of the route. And last week, in the evening on the way home one day, her ARL train got stuck/stalled coming out of Huamark toward Ramkhamhaeng for about a half hour.

From what she told me, the power didn't go out, but the train couldn't move, was well away from the Huamark station so passengers couldn't just exit back into the station, and the train kept going forward and back a bit trying to move. And like today's incident, little or no announcement/information passed along to the passengers.

To me, it seems pretty unlikely that they'd have two breakdowns in basically the same location a few days apart, and not have some connection/relationship between the two.

I believe the prior problem was around 5 pm last Friday, March 18. And the ARL Facebook page in Thai language seems to have some discussion of it, as well.

https://www.facebook.com/PR.ARL

I was on that train on Wednesday. Got on at Hua Mark and the train didn't move for 5 minutes. It then reversed and went back about 50 feet and we were stuck there for 30 minutes. We were switched to the central line and finally the train moved and went to Ramkhamhaeng. Most of us then fled, although it seemed like the train was going to keep going. There was aircon but it was packed.

Then on Friday, the display said 23 minutes till the next train, yet 3 minutes later a train arrived coming from the wrong direction (i.e. from Ramkhamhaeng). It was a brand new train and being a glutton for punishment I got on and it went back to Rhamkamhaeng. Nice train with an extra carriage and lots of space.

So, just a guess, they are testing some new trains and it is messing things up a bit. Rush hour is probably not ideal. Like an idiot I am about to make the journey again in 20 minutes. There aren't a lot of options where I work. Hopefully it is ok now or it will be walk then a taxi and traffic.

The extra carriages are on the former 'Express' trains and are empty and unusable - they were supposed to be for the luggage check in service at Makkasan (the one that worked out to cost around 10,000 THB per bag before it was scrapped).

So every time one of these trains rolls out of a station absolutely rammed full and leaving scores of passengers on the platform who just cannot get on, the 4th carriage sits empty.

This little slice of inefficiency is quite a good metaphor for the ARL as a whole.

[Sydebolle]

The closing line must be entering the competition of "the best one-liner in 2016" reading

quote
Passengers are advised to make alternative travel arrangements.
unquote

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thanks for posting on that... And you are correct, the problem you and my wife had on the ARL train getting stuck at Huamak was last Wednesday around 5:30 p.m. So then apparently, as you experienced, there was ANOTHER problem two days later on Friday in the same general area (the one that is discussed on the ARL Thai Facebook page). And now today's problem in the same general location.

So that seems to make THREE different breakdowns/problems in one area of the ARL line around Huamak and Ramkamhaeng in just the past week. As I said, something more is going on than just the power outage excuse being given publicly today.

Isn't that also the area where there is the loud bang when pass over a certain spot between the two stations? This is going westbound.

I've been wondering about that. Glad you mentioned it. I don't ride ARL often, unlike my wife who rides it daily.

But, when I have taken that route, I've always wondered about the loud bang sound coming from the tracks when you reach that point. From memory, I don't think it's between Huamak and Ramkamhaeng where the latest problems have occurred, but further to the west. But that's just my fuzzy recollection.