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Subway to sit idle for many weeks
Published on January 19, 2005

It will take several weeks, if not months, before the Bangkok subway is back in operation after Monday’s crash that left more than 200 people injured.

The Cabinet yesterday instructed the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) to close the subway indefinitely.

Bangkok Metro Company Limi-ted (BMCL) managing director Sombat Kitjaluck said he could not say when the subway would resume operations. Training staff to minimise the probability of human error will take more than two weeks. After the training, the company will conduct a trial period.

Starting full-fledged operations depends on whether the BMCL can restore confidence that there will not be any further human error, said Prapat Chongsanguan, governor of the MRTA.

Prapat said he would invite the country’s leaders and the prime minister for a test ride to build up public confidence and allow the public to use the subway free of charge during the trial. He

also plans to ask police to mark

off-limits areas in case of accidents or emergencies.

“Subway officials could not carry out their duty on Monday because the incident attracted the media and onlookers,’’ he said.

Sombat said he has suspended subway officials found responsible for the crash. MRTA deputy governor Ronachit Yaemsa-ard said the agency would question three other officials as well.

Police would take no more than two weeks to investigate how the accident occurred, said Colonel Monthian Prateepawanit, deputy commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau.

Separately, nearly 58 per cent of Bangkok residents surveyed yesterday said they would continue travelling by subway despite Monday’s accident, saying they believed any serious safety flaws would be rectified.

Slightly more than 30 per cent of the 1,423 respondents said they were confident in the system’s safety, while 49 per cent said they were not, according to results of the survey conducted by Assumption University.