PUBLIC TRANSPORT
AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK & NAREERAT WIRIYAPONG
Repair gangs were working overnight to solve the problem which had slowed the MRT subway service to a virtual crawl on the Bang Sue line.
The problem occurred between Huai Khwang and Sutthisan stations, affecting services along the entire MRT route from Hua Lamphong to Bang Sue.
Passengers had to disembark between Thailand Cultural Centre and Phahon Yothin stations, with a shuttle train travelling on a single track carrying them between the two points.
Some travellers said their trip took up to an hour longer than usual.
The glitch hit during rush hour, at about 6.15pm, and had still not been repaired by midnight, when trains end their daily run.
Officials expected normal services would resume this morning.
''We have sent technicians inside the tunnel to find out what the problem is,'' the governor of the Mass Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), Prapas Chongsanguan, said last night.
Chartchai Praditpong, public relations director of Bangkok Metro Plc (BMCL), said: ''We don't yet know yet what happened to the system, but it was a technical problem that stopped the normal operation of the trains.''
Roughly 50,000 passengers were affected, he said.
BMCL is the concessionaire of the service from MRTA.
Subway commuters complained about the delays.
''The metro is quite new. I don't understand how such a problem occurred,'' said Thawan Nalaitham, a 40-year-old engineer, who uses the subway almost every day.
Mr Thawan decided to use a motorcycle taxi instead.
A spokesman for the Thai division of Siemens AG, which supplies trains and signalling systems for the subway, said: ''We have maintenance staff on standby 24 hours a day.
''If there is any emergency, we should be able to fix it quickly.''
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Next
