A public transportation expert has warned that Bangkok’s Airport Rail Link, which transports almost 100,000 people daily, is at risk of derailment due to lax maintenance.  

On 16 January 2016, Samart Ratchaphonsit, public transportation expert and former Deputy Governor of Bangkok, reported via his Facebook account that the Airport Rail Link (ARL) recently had to reduce speed because the anchor bolts connecting the rails to the concrete structure are now loose.

During a recent transit, trains were forced to decrease speed abnormally from 45 km per hour to 30 and later to 15 km per hour near Lat Krabang Station.   

“If the speed is not reduced, the train might derail. According to a report from the [ARL] maintenance unit, 159 sections of the rail need to be repaired, which can be divided into 59 sections which need serious maintenance and 100 other sections,” wrote Samart.

Samart predicts that with luck, the problem will not occur if the necessary preventive maintenance procedures are regularly conducted by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).

Allegations exist that certain ARL executives wanted rail problems to occur, so that certain private companies could win lucrative maintenance contracts with the state without having to participate in the usual public auction process.

Though 59 sections of rail have already been repaired, Samart commented further that the company currently handling the ARL maintenance lacks the necessary capacity and experience to ensure train safety.

On 21 March 2016, the ARL system was forced to shut down temporarily after its electrical system abruptly shut down and its 5-year-old backup system failed to operate.

The incident stranded hundreds of passengers on trains between the Ramkhamhaeng and Hua Mark stations for half an hour, before some passengers chose to open the emergency doors and walk along the track to Ramkhamhaeng station.