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articles relating to the property market in Thailand and
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| Killer crossings plague railways |
Killer crossings plague railways
This article has been included within our articles section
Besides running in the red, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) is troubled by accident-prone level crossings along its thousands of kilometres of track nationwide.
The number of crossings illegally built by local people is also on the rise, but the SRT can do nothing to stop this kind of encroachment, said Siripong Pruetiphan, a railway traffic manager.
According to SRT figures, in 2006, there were 185 accidents involving trains and other vehicles at railway crossings, resulting in 53 deaths and 190 people being injured.
Last year, there were 327 accidents in which 45 people were killed and 143 injured.
During the first two months of this year, 72 accidents were reported between trains and other types of vehicles.
The figures exclude accidents involving other trains or animals and motor vehicles that crash into barriers at railway crossings.
In January and February this year, trains hit animals 91 times and road vehicles hit crossing barriers 101 times, while people threw dangerous objects, stones for instance, at the train 78 times.
Those incidents have led to huge losses for the SRT, both in terms of staff lives and financial damage, said Mr Siripong.
Mr Siripong said that countrywide there are 2,443 crossings, of which 1,908 were built with SRT permission and 535 by local administrations in remote areas for their own convenience.
Railway lines with too many crossings make journeys longer because train drivers must slow down every time they approach a crossing.
Because of the huge load, it takes a slow train quite a while to regain speed.
This also uses a lot of fuel, leading to higher running costs.
Mr Siripong said the number of crossings set up without permission keep increasing each year.
The SRT cannot control their number because the tracks are in an open environment. When the SRT tries to close a crossing the barricades are quickly removed by local people.
'Local people don't want to go an extra mile to make a U-turn at an official crossing,' said Mr Siripong. 'People care more about convenience than safety.
'And many who die in train-related crashes at railway crossings are not from that neighbourhood.' Most accidents at railway crossings happen in rural areas.
In many cases, the vehicle drivers involved in the accidents have ignored warning signals or railway staff.
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