Rail Chaos Follows Derailment
Foreign Tourists Stranded 500 Km from Destination

CHIANG MAI, Thailand – 4 May 2002 - Early this morning a cargo train derailed and overturned just north of Lopburi in central Thailand.  This was the second major derailment in as many weeks and it brought chaos to rail travellers at the start of the annual Coronation Day holiday weekend.

Despite the best efforts of State Railway employees, dozens of passengers were stranded in the historic city’s rail station with no onward travel options.

The 08:35am Bangkok to Chiang Mai Special Express “Sprinter” train arrived in Lopburi on time this morning with the announcement to passengers that there would be a delay of a few hours.  As time passed it became obvious to the station staff that the delay would be longer and they arranged five air-conditioned buses to ferry the 200 passengers on to their destinations.  At this point, the later “Rapid” train had also arrived and when boarding of the buses for the Sprinter’s passengers was announced, the second set of travellers also raced for the buses.

Rail staff failed to check the tickets of the people boarding the coaches and despite the fifty seats surplus to the Sprinter’s manifest, 60 of it’s passengers were left stranded 500 kilometres from their destination as the vehicles pulled out.  Foreign tourists were amongst those left behind, and one Thai passenger asked why no one had used the passenger destination lists at the buses

The confusion didn’t end there. Some of the abandoned passengers began asking for refunds on their tickets after it was announced at midday that no more buses could be organised before 9:00pm.  At first the station staff offered only to refund the unused portion of the ticket (i.e. Lopburi to the destination), but after further protests, refund in full against the purchase price was made for the whole journey from Bangkok.  Having done this, the staff thought their obligation was fulfilled, and passengers had to pay their own way back to Bangkok (150 kilometres) when it was obvious their journeys could not be continued.

The local bus station could provide no further buses, and private companies hoping to cash in on the emergency were greedily doubling their price for a bus to travel to Chiangmai.  The foreign passengers left behind were initially attended, and kept informed, by station staff, but later abandoned to make their own arrangements.

At the northern city of Chiangmai, Station Master Pramuan Pousuwan, when questioned by a foreigner with relatives stuck in Lopburi, at first demonstrated reasonable English and explained the line should re-open at 5:00pm.  He quickly become uncooperative and uncommunicative when questions began about what the State Railway was doing to get the stranded passengers to Chiangmai.  At the end of the interview, he feigned zero knowledge of the English language and even refused to answer questions asked in Thai.  A totally unacceptable attitude from a senior government employee, but one that foreigners say typify Thai civil servant reactions to questions posed by citizens of developed nations.

The greater tragedy in this event is the obvious lack of planning to handle emergencies on the single track line linking the country’s two primary cities, the lack of public relations information, the dismissive attitude towards foreign visitors and residents, and the lack of crisis management training demonstrated by the public employees of this critical nationalised industry. 

What would have happened if it had been the passenger train that derailed?

Thai people are often heard stating they want their country to compete with developed nations.  This morning demonstrates why that will be a very long time in coming. Derailments in developed countries are events of national significance, often leading to a blitz of media coverage, parliamentary debates, and intensive investigations.  Here they are daily occurrences and treated in the same manner as urban road accidents.