A public transportation expert has warned that Bangkok’s Airport Rail Link, which transports almost 100,000 people daily, is at risk of derailing due to lax maintenance.
On 16 January 2016, Samart Ratchaphonsit, public transportation expert and former Deputy Governor of Bangkok, reported via his Facebook account that the Airport Rail Link (ARL).
recently had to decelerate because the anchor bolts connecting the rails to the concrete structure are now loose.
During a recent transit, the train was forced to decrease its speed abnormally from 45 km per hour to 30 and later to 15 km per hour near Ladkrabang Station.
“If the speed is not reduced, the train might derail. According to a report from the [ARL] reparation unit, 159 sections of the rail need to be repaired, which can be divided into 59 sections which need serious reparation and 100 other sections,” wrote Samart.
Luckily, Samart predicts the problem will not occur if the necessary preventive maintenance procedures are regularly conducted by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).
Allegations exist that certain ARL executives wanted rail problems to occur, so that certain private companies could win lucrative reparation contracts with the state without having to participate in the usual public auction process.
Though 59 sections of the rail have already been repaired, Samart commented further that the company currently handling the ARL reparation lacks the necessary capacity and experience to ensure the train’s safety.
On 21 March 2016, the ARL system was forced to shut down temporarily after its electrical system abruptly shut down and its 5-year-old backup system failed to operate.
The incident caused hundreds of passengers to be stranded on the train between the Ramkhamhaeng and Hua Mark stations for half an hour, before some passengers chose to open the emergency door and walk along the sky rail to Ramkhamhaeng station.
