Airport Rail Link: Government must intervene!

It almost went badly wrong on Monday and it is a miracle that no deaths or injuries were reported, writes Bangkok Post yesterday. Seven hundred passengers were then trapped in an Airport Rail Link carriage for an hour because of a power failure. As a result, the doors remained closed and the air conditioning also failed. Seven passengers became unwell.

The newspaper is very critical and calls the incident no surprise given the past few years when the Airport Rail Link was already plagued by management problems and overdue maintenance.

Thus the opening was delayed for three years. The number of travelers was very disappointing and fell far short of forecasts. The two lines, the red Express Line (non-stop Suvarnabhumi-Makkasan) and the blue City Line (Suvarnabhumi-Phaya Thai with stops at the six intermediate stations) should have carried 95.000 passengers a day, but barely 40.000.

The start was dramatic, partly due to a lack of trains. From Suvarnabhumi, a train with four trains should have left for Makkasan every 15 minutes. But in reality, a train departed every hour with two carriages because the others had been transferred to the City Line due to a shortage of carriages.

It also lacked a decent connection between Makkasan and MRT station Phetchaburi metro) travelers had to do daredevil tricks with their suitcases by crossing busy roads. This has since been remedied with a footbridge.

The rail connection is also struggling with financial concerns: the line is running at a loss and major maintenance of the equipment is constantly being postponed.

The newspaper does not expect things to get better soon. That will only happen if the government steps in and addresses the problems.