Thousands stranded as airport rail link service disrupted again

[webfact]

Thousands stranded as airport rail link service disrupted again

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Thousands of morning commuters were stranded at the Airport Rail Link’s eight stations after the train’s automatic doors at Ramkhamhaeng station did not shut.

 

The malfunctioning of the train’s doors happened during the morning rush hour as the train coming from Suvarnabhumi airport station to Phayathai station arrived at Ramkhamhaeng station at about 8.00am.

 

The incident forced all the ARL’s stations to delay departures of the trains, pending the maintenance of the incident at Ramkhamhaeng station.

 

But as time passed by, more and more unaware commuters came to ARL stations but were not allowed to enter the platforms. No clarification was announced by ARL, thus causing some stations to be overcrowded with passengers spilling over to outside the stations, particularly at Hua Mark.

 

Some commuters have to ask for refund and take other transportations instead after having forced to wait over 15 minutes with no clarification.

 

It was until after almost half an hour that the problem at Ramkhamhaeng station was resolved, and trains started to arrive to pick up stranded commuters at eight stations along its 29-kilometre long route from Suvarnabhumi airport to Phayathai station.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thousands-stranded-airport-rail-link-service-disrupted/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-06-07

[NCC1701A]

" No clarification was announced by ARL, thus causing some stations to be overcrowded..."

 

yes, but ask them what a friend was eating for breakfast and they will know the answer thanks to facebook.

 

 

[vadid]

Bangkok and Thailand should be ashamed that the Airport Snail Link is the first experience many tourists have  of Thai travel  'service'. It is slow, infrequent, uncomfortable, overcrowded and now thoroughly  unreliable.

[trogers]

19 minutes ago, vadid said:

Bangkok and Thailand should be ashamed that the Airport Snail Link is the first experience many tourists have  of Thai travel  'service'. It is slow, infrequent, uncomfortable, overcrowded and now thoroughly  unreliable.

Just normal government-owned efficiency...golf time and then off to the 19th hole...

[moe666]

I took it one time, no thanks

[Emster23]

2 hours ago, vadid said:

Bangkok and Thailand should be ashamed that the Airport Snail Link is the first experience many tourists have  of Thai travel  'service'. It is slow, infrequent, uncomfortable, overcrowded and now thoroughly  unreliable.

I beg to differ. In my experience (and quite often as I use it as step to commute between Jomtien and Ramkhamhaeng) it is far faster than a taxi (and safer), 30 baht charge, 10-12 minutes longest I have ever had to wait, seats are fine, room for bags for those who have them, uncomfortable at times as the air con is set to refrigerator levels.... 2 incidents in last 2-3 months isn't all that unreliable IMO. Overcrowded? Maybe during rush hours.  Makes me think of Yogi Berra quote "Nobody goes there anymore. It's always too crowded".

Maybe there is an "unseen in Thailand" rail link you use?

[Razzler1973]

I have never had a problem with the rail link tbh, I don't expect it to fly at light speed, it's get into the city reasonably quickly and cheaply, that's about all I ask of such a service

[Sydebolle]

Took 'em only 15 minutes to locate where Somchai wrongly wired the somtam alarm last night ;-) 

[tomwct]

4 hours ago, vadid said:

Bangkok and Thailand should be ashamed that the Airport Snail Link is the first experience many tourists have  of Thai travel  'service'. It is slow, infrequent, uncomfortable, overcrowded and now thoroughly  unreliable.

Yes, so next time they will use our safe, reliable airport taxis.

[Rhys]

.....too bad in the beginning it was sweet.... long ago...

 

[Kabula]

5 hours ago, vadid said:

Bangkok and Thailand should be ashamed that the Airport Snail Link is the first experience many tourists have  of Thai travel  'service'. It is slow, infrequent, uncomfortable, overcrowded and now thoroughly  unreliable.

Some might allege this is a negative Troll post.

 

Having lived here for going on 12 years and I've been using the airport link ever since it was constructed without problems.

 

You should be ashamed of your content and ignorance.

 

You just described public transportation travel in most every major city in America.

 

In Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles the chances of you getting murdered while walking or traveling double each month!

[Lupatria]

We need to burn tons of incense and pray to what- and whoever to avoid that this nation ever runs an atomic power plant. Btw good luck to the submarine squad. 

[hansnl]

6 hours ago, trogers said:

Just normal government-owned efficiency...golf time and then off to the 19th hole...

As if non governmental services are that good?

As far as I know all de-nationalised railways are doing worse and are more expensive as their forebears.

But....As one may believe the company liars, it is all cheaper, faster, better.

[trogers]

5 minutes ago, hansnl said:

As if non governmental services are that good?

As far as I know all de-nationalised railways are doing worse and are more expensive as their forebears.

But....As one may believe the company liars, it is all cheaper, faster, better.

Seems you weren't here when you had to pay a few tens of thousands and wait for a year to get a land phone line.

[Krataiboy]

Half an hour delay? Typical third world country- like Britain any Autumn when "leaves on the line" announcements can leave you stranded for hours.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Krataiboy

[Searat7]

I still think that the operation of the Airport Link should be transferred from the SRT to the BTS. There have been many maintenance issues in the past and it was disclosed that required maintenance had not been scheduled on time as recommended by the manufacturer. The Express service disappeared long ago and I wonder what happened to those trains. Either they are sitting in a yard where they have been canibalized for parts (more likely) or they were converted for use on the City Line.

[rgraham]

This occurs daily in Denver, CO, USA.

[GuiseppeD]

Walk down the stairs and find a taxi.  

[freebyrd]

21 hours ago, moe666 said:

I took it one time, no thanks

In my youth I spent a fair amount on 'entertainment', so B1,200 for a car to town is a pittance by comparison. Rail link, taxi, bus? - why?

[teatree]

17 hours ago, Kabula said:

Some might allege this is a negative Troll post.

 

Having lived here for going on 12 years and I've been using the airport link ever since it was constructed without problems.

 

You should be ashamed of your content and ignorance.

 

You just described public transportation travel in most every major city in America.

 

In Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles the chances of you getting murdered while walking or traveling double each month!

The post you replied to said 'It is slow, infrequent, uncomfortable, overcrowded and now thoroughly  unreliable.'

 

The ARL isn't slow, but he is right on all the other points.

 

It is infrequent for its primary use as a commuter train (every 12-15mins), often uncomfortable because it is often overcrowded and it is unreliable - trains are often wildly off from the timetable.

[gk10002000]

i took it from town to the airport.  I left lots and lots of time.  I just had a carryon and wasn't in a particular hurry.  It was ok.  Not a time saver because you have to go to phaya thai from whatever BTS you were starting from.  Faster and more reliable to take a taxi.  I even too the bus once to the transit station.  That was interesting.  Can't beat that price, which was like what, 28 baht or something?  But waiting on the side of the road in Bangkok heat and humidity and starting to sweat while then going to the airport to take a 20 hour long day flight travel trip back to the USA is not the way to travel.

On 6/7/2017 at 0:56 AM, moe666 said:

I took it one time, no thanks

 

[ben2talk]

On 6/7/2017 at 11:16 AM, vadid said:

Bangkok and Thailand should be ashamed that the Airport Snail Link is the first experience many tourists have  of Thai travel  'service'. It is slow, infrequent, uncomfortable, overcrowded and now thoroughly  unreliable.

Yes, a friend of mine used it for 3 months before he left for good.

 

He said the whole experience made him feel like he was hitching rides in cattle trucks and went a long way to changing his mood about staying on here... Even then (about 5 years ago) he said it was overcrowded and not a patch on the regular BTS.

[Lakegeneve]

On 6/7/2017 at 7:41 PM, Searat7 said:

I still think that the operation of the Airport Link should be transferred from the SRT to the BTS. There have been many maintenance issues in the past and it was disclosed that required maintenance had not been scheduled on time as recommended by the manufacturer. The Express service disappeared long ago and I wonder what happened to those trains. Either they are sitting in a yard where they have been canibalized for parts (more likely) or they were converted for use on the City Line.

There are 5 Cityline sets and 4 Express sets - all Siemens Desiro rolling stock. All of the 4 Express sets have now been converted for more pax with the baggage car having had seats installed.

 

7 news sets of rolling stock (5 cars each) are to be ordered , the funds were approved just under 4 years ago when it was said that they would arrive by 2015 to alleviate overcrowding. Subsequently, delayed due to corruption allegations related with an intention to purchase chinese made rolling stock.

 

Exactly when will that order will be placed is the big unknown.....

[SiamBeast]

The ARL could definitely do with an extra train or 2. When you miss your train, waiting for 15 minutes is a pain in the a$s.