Thousands stranded in Thailand train strike

Train worker strikes in Thailand halted services nationwide and stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers for a second day, the state railway said.

Thai buddhist monks and a novice sit on benchs after train workers went on strike at Hua Lampong train station in Bangkok. Train worker strikes in Thailand halted services nationwide and stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers for a second day, the state railway said.

Around 200,000 train passengers were affected by the industrial action against plans to modernise the century-old enterprise, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) said.

The country's railway labour union is protesting at what it says are government plans to privatise the railway, and workers are demanding to participate in all stages of the proposals.

But Thailand's transport minister Sopon Zarum denied that the scheme would involve privatisation and he criticised the union for mounting the strike without warning.

"It's inappropriate to stop working without negotiation... I am willing to hold talks with them," he told reporters ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting.

He said the government would shoulder the 72 billion baht (two billion dollars) cost of financing the plan, adding: "This is to rehabilitate, not to privatise. There is no privatisation."

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will chair Tuesday's meeting to decide on a response to the unionists' demands.

Railways spokesman Pairat Rojcharoenngam said that while only a minority of workers were striking, they were preventing others from doing their jobs.

"Around 400 mechanics and drivers from a total of 2,200 have taken sick leave, but they set up barricades and obstructed other workers who were still going to work," he said.

"As of last night 90 passenger trains and 50 freight trains were halted," Pairat said.

The last nationwide train strike was August 2008, when a union leader called for action in sympathy with Thailand's "Yellow Shirts" who were protesting against former premier Thaksin Shinawatra's allies in government.