elef Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 SUBWAY CRASH: Drivers, 2 controllers charged Published on January 22, 2005 The two subway drivers whose alleged recklessness led to Mon-day?s crash and more than 200 injuries were not sufficiently qualified, police said yesterday. Questioning of Thanaphol Nithichotiyanont and Thawatchai Kanya showed they had insufficient training, Metropolitan Police commissioner Lt-General Pansiri Prapawat said. The two drivers and two control room officials were charged yesterday with recklessness leading to serious injury. Thanaphol had said he was ?just a train driver?, so he did not have technical knowledge about the train?s braking system, Pansiri said. A recorded conversation bet-ween the two drivers was found that could be used against them in court, he said while declining to give details. ?The investigation has uncovered a high level of carelessness,? Pansiri told a press conference at the offices of Bangkok Metro Plc (BMCL), the subway operator. On Monday morning, Thana-phol was manually driving an out-of-service train to the depot near the Thailand Cultural Centre station when it got stuck on a sloping curve in the tracks. Another train driven by Thawatchai was sent out from the depot to push the stalled train to a nearby power contact. But Thanaphol disengaged the emergency brake, allegedly on a suggestion from the control room, letting his train roll down the slope and slam into a train full of riders waiting to leave the station. More than 200 people were injured in the accident, two of them seriously. Thanaphol and the driver of the passenger train were also injured. Thanaphol and Thawatchai along with two Bangkok Metro employees who were on duty in the control room during the collision will face criminal charges, Pansiri said. Chief traffic controller Kulchart Lao-asoke and control room operator Rangsan Sawasdimongkol did not issue a warning when Thanaphol released the emergency brake code-named B09, which is against operating procedures, Pansiri said. They merely gave an acknowledgement, saying ?OK, got that?, when the driver reported his action. The four suspects could face a maximum three in years jail, Bt6,000 fine, or both, Pansiri said. Police have questioned more than 130 witnesses, including injured passengers, subway workers and technicians familiar with the subway system. Three of the suspects ? except Thanaphol, who was still hospitalised ? turned themselves in to police to face the charges relating to the accident. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the subway line would be reopened only after the operator could ensure passenger safety. The exact date had not yet been set, said Prapat Chongsanguan, governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, the state agency overseeing the subway system. ?We are not in a hurry to resume operations. If all the repair work is done and we can make sure people will be safe, services will be restarted,? Prapat said. Sumalee Hanpanyapichit, Sucheera Pinijparakan The Nation ---------- What they did that day Thanaphol, driver of the off-duty train, told investigators that he was ?just a train driver? and was unlikely to have good technical knowledge of the braking system. *** Chief traffic controller Kulchart told Thanaphol to disengage the emergency brake though he should have known that it would cancel the automatic braking system. *** Thawatchai, driver of the rescue train, pushed the off-duty train without being completely connected. He told police that he had no knowledge about the braking system. *** Control room official Rangsan ordered the immobile train to be pushed to the next electricity contact while it was not completely connected to the rescue train. He also ordered that the train?s automatic braking system be switched off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elef Posted January 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 Govt wants German train drivers, staff trainers for subway POST REPORTERS Specialists from Germany are likely to be put in charge of subway operations when services are resumed to ensure safety, said Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit. The Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), owner of the subway concession, has been told to consider hiring German drivers, he said. Train-maker Siemens has been contacted to help recruit German specialists who will also re-train Thai staff, including drivers, he said. The minister said services will be resumed once the inquiry into the Jan 17 collision is complete and the safety of the system has been confirmed. Subway services have been ordered suspended for seven days for safety inspections after an empty train smashed into another train carrying about 700 passengers at the Thailand Cultural Centre station mid-morning last Monday. The empty train was waiting to be towed to the maintenance centre. When a rescue train failed to connect to the empty train the driver was told to release the brake and the empty train began to roll backwards and crashed into the other train at the station. It is reported that Bangkok Metro Co Ltd (BMCL), the subway service operator, may extend the closure period for a few more days to complete test runs. Police investigators, meanwhile, have concluded their crash probe, singling out four subway staff members for negligence. They are Kulachart Lao-asoke, subway operation chief controller, Rangsan Sawasdimongkol, a subway operation controller, Thawatchai Kanya, driver of the rescue train, and Thanapol Nithichotiyanon, driver of the empty train. However, the police request for warrants for their arrests has been turned down by a district court which found the four, including Mr Thanapol who is in hospital, have shown no intent to escape. Samart Yolphak, deputy transport permanent secretary who heads the ministry's investigation into the subway crash, said the panel had also concluded the collision was caused by human error. Mr Samart said staff had encountered similar problems a few times before the Jan 17 accident. ''In this case the control system itself is fine. So, we'll have to find out next if the staff have enough training or not,'' Mr Samart said. Findings will be submitted to the transport minister on Monday. MRTA governor Prapat Chongsanguan said the agency will seek changes to the contract with BMCL so it can supervise train services and boost the confidence of passengers in the system's safety. MRTA is currently not in charge of subway services. He said it was still unknown when the subway services would be resumed and it would depend on safety assurances from the system operator. It has been reported that services might be resumed on certain routes. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday emphasised services would be resumed when staff were ready. Bangkok Post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 Operator training of complex systems is always problematic, and it is compounded when done in third world countries. Having been involved in plant design and construction for most of my working life, I can tell you there is not a safety design in world that a lazy operator cannot figure out to bypass if it makes his life easier... TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 I believe you! The scary part is that in a country of 70 million people they were not able to find anyone in the crew willing to follow the rule book. While this is expected for a tuk tuk driver, I would have thought they could have done a little better. In their defense, gross operator errors occasionally happen in modern countries at times too with disastrous results. But this incident is surely going to leave a black mark on Thai workmanship for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khun_Kong Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 Questioning of Thanaphol Nithichotiyanont and Thawatchai Kanya showed they had insufficient training, Metropolitan Police commissioner Lt-General Pansiri Prapawat said. The two drivers and two control room officials were charged yesterday with recklessness leading to serious injury. ... ?The investigation has uncovered a high level of carelessness,? Pansiri told a press conference at the offices of Bangkok Metro Plc (BMCL), the subway operator. Question: How do you know you need more training for your Thai job? Answer: When you end up behind bars! So, they admit that the employees were insufficiently trained- this sounds like a management problem, not the fault of the employees. Then, the employees are charged with recklessness? WTF? How about the people responsible for the insufficient training? Shouldn't they be the ones whose asses are booted and thrown in jail? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 Hi, "How about the people responsible for the insufficient training? Shouldn't they be the ones whose asses are booted and thrown in jail?" Of course, but those people are likely from a higher 'class' (i.e. richer and more connected), so they get off free. This kind of shit happens all over the world Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khun_Kong Posted January 25, 2005 Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 Unfortunately, we all know this to be true. I love the ones high up who say, "I take full responsibility for <whatever>"- and then they take NONE! :grrrr: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted January 25, 2005 Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 Quite a different model of blame than the USA. There they find whoever up the chain has the deepest pockets to shift the blame to so they can sue the crap out of them. I think people are even suing the company that designed the WTC! Not much you can collect from the terrorists in the rubble I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keekwai Posted January 25, 2005 Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 I wonder how much pressure people in Thailand in these type of positions are under to ensure there is not a major delay which costs money and causes more delays. Could be a case of your damned if you do damned if you don't. Thinking of the Thai airways flight that crashed a few years back at Surat Thani during severe weather making a landing attempt, the third after two aborted attempts I always imagined the pilot landed against his own good judgment to avoid the scorn of doing the right thing and making the 45 minute flight back to Bangkok to wait out the storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaad Posted January 25, 2005 Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 On a sidenote, subway will be re-opened on 1st. Feb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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