In the aftermath of a tragic accident last week in Chachoengsao, the place a freight prepare collided with a pickup truck at an unrecognised railway crossing, taking eight lives and injuring three, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) resolved to close 693 unauthorised railway crossings throughout Thailand.
The accident happened on an unauthorised crossing, lacking official signalling mechanisms. Of the 437 incidents involving trains that transpired between 2005 and 2021, SRT data signifies that 44% occurred at illegal crossings.
Tayakorn Chandrangsu, SRT Director of Safety and Maintenance, yesterday revealed that Thailand’s 4,000-kilometre railway community boasts 2,697 stage crossings. Some 2,004 of these have the official stamp of approval while 693 do not. The unauthorised crossings due for closure are distributed inconsistently across the country, with 52 within the north, fifty four in the northeast, sixty eight within the east, and 519 in the south.
Chandrangsu said the persistence of locals in utilising these unauthorised railway crossings as they often provide probably the most direct and handy route to their chosen destination.
The SRT beforehand urged every province to formulate effective options to scale back accidents at level railway crossings, but the outcome has been unsatisfactory and underwhelming, in accordance with Chandrangsu.
In discussions about preventative measures taken by the SRT, he talked about the closure of some unlawful railway crossing factors, which nonetheless led to protests from residents. Despite the closure, locals would discover ways to reopen these passages.
In addition to plans for shutting down unlawful railway crossings, the SRT intends to assemble extra walkways across the rail network, primarily in communities bisected by railway tracks. Encouraging Insider of the DRT’s Crossing Application app, which allows users to flag points with native crossings, is another measure on the agenda, reported Bangkok Post. Chandrangsu said…
“All our efforts lead towards one end: fewer ground-level crossings. We will endeavour to employ extra such crossings as part of our double-track expansion and high-speed railways to minimise accidents.”