South trains to resume Thursday

Representatives of the State Railway of Thailand administration and labour union agreed at talks mediated by Deputy Interior Minister Thavorn Senniam to resume train service in three southern border provinces from tomorrow, an SRT source said on Wednesday.

The train services may not resume on all routes tomorrow because only 11 out of the 13 armoured locomotives were ready for operation and train coaches had been left at different stations following 12 days of the rail strike.

However, steps would be taken to enable the train services to resume on all routes in three days, said the source.

The source said the two sides in the talks agreed to set up a committee comprising Hat Yai and Bangkok-based engineers to jointly examine conditions of the locomotives and train coaches to certify their safety.