Power outage on Hua Lamphong; two train accidents: one fatality

It seems as if a curse has rested on the Thai railways lately. Yesterday, a power failure knocked out Hua Lamphong's rail control system, preventing any train from leaving or reaching the platforms between 6 and 8 am.

By the time it was possible to switch to manual control of the points, ten trains had been delayed. Commuter trains and trains arriving from the province had to wait outside the station.

As if the devil was playing with it, a freight train ran off the track a few minutes later. That happened in Sai Yoi (Phrae), about the same place where the train to Chiang Mai derailed in July. The freight train had run into abandoned repair equipment, causing the locomotive to go off the rails. Train traffic of some northern services was not possible. That would have come to an end last night.

A second incident occurred in Phan Thong (Chon Buri). There a train ran into a truck at a level crossing. The railway employee, who operates the 'railway barriers' (I suspect more like a gate blocking the crossing), was hit by the lorry and was killed. A passenger in the truck and a motorcyclist were injured. The driver of the truck, who had tried to cross the crossing despite the approach of the train, fled after the collision. The message does not state whether train traffic was blocked.

(Source: Bangkok Post, Sept. 5, 2013)