BANGKOK: The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) stopped services through Phasadet tunnel, the longest railway tunnel in Thailand at 5.2km, on Sunday (July 28) within hours of its opening. The decision was taken after videos of dust blowing into carriages were posted online.
Repairs are expected to take two weeks and the tunnel is provisionally scheduled to reopen on Aug 12.
Images and a video posted by a foreign Facebook user showed strong wind blowing dust into the train and the post also mentioned a strong smell of diesel.
Ekkarat Sriarayanpong, chief of the Office of the Governor of SRT, said that following the post, Deputy Transport Minister Surapong Piyachote, instructed the SRT to address the issue urgently.
SRT's special projects and construction department promptly inspected the area.
They found that the dust that had blown into the tunnel by strong winds during its construction had accumulated, and that even though the contractors had used fans to disperse it before the opening, a dusty residue remained.
The SRT is now coordinating with the contractor to thoroughly clean the tunnel using water and fans, which will take 14 days.
During the cleaning process, the SRT will temporarily reroute 14 passenger trains on the Ubon Ratchathani line back to the original route: Map Kabao - Phasadet - Hin Lap - Muak Lek, a distance of 18km, taking 32 minutes to cover.
After the cleaning, SRT will inspect and test the route before resuming normal operations.
Phasadet Tunnel is located in Saraburi Province and is Thailand's longest railway tunnel. It is a double tunnel with separate tracks for each direction and is part of the new double-track railway from Map Kabao to Muak Lek, a 14km distance, and cuts travel time to 15 minutes. - The Nation/ANN
