Rail services in the South were halted Wednesday due to flooded rail lines as the region continues to take a battering from floods caused by torrential rain over the past week.
Long-haul train services between Bangkok-Trang and the capital and Nakhon Si Thammarat were forced to a halt after tracks were submerged under heavy rainwater, said Chaiya Kocharat, a track inspector.
Four trains were held up at a railway station in Thung Song district in Nakhon Si Thammarat because tracks between Khao Chumthong station and Ban Thunglor station in Ron Phibun district were under water.
The services halted were trains No 83 running between Bangkok-Trang, train No 84 running between Trang-Bangkok, train No 167 running between Bangkok-Kantang and train No 168 running between Kantang-Bangkok, Mr Chaiya said.
The tracks were under about one metre of water, he added.
Flooding also brought trains No 173 and No 174 running between Nakhon Si Thammart and Bangkok to a halt, Mr Chaiya said.
The trains are at Thung Song station and will remain there until the flooding eases enough to allow services to resume, he added.
Local rail services were also suspended because tracks between Bantiwang and Bankapang stations, covering a stretch of more than two kilometres, were impassable, Mr Chaiya said.
He said railway officials were forced to transfer passengers to buses which took them to Trang.
In Cha-uat district, tracks between Cha-uat and Bannalong railway stations were also declared impassable, forcing train services to be suspended.
Passengers on a train heading from Hat Yai district in Songkhla to Nakhon Si Thammart had to leave the train at a station in the Ban Nongji area and continue their journey by bus.
Eight southern provinces including Yala, Narathiwat and Phatthalung, Trung and Nakhon Si Thammarat have been ravaged by heavy downpours and floods over the last week.
Latest reports said the floods had expanded in many areas of these provinces.
Water has inundated many houses, farmland, roads and railway tracks.
Thung Song district in Nakhon Si Thammarat has been one of the hardest hit with floodwater exacerbated by run-off from the Budtad mountain range, inundating many areas in the municipality, including the main streets.
The water level in the municipality was about 30-50cm high in some areas making them impassible for small vehicles.
Several schools in tambon Tiwang and tambon Kapang of Thung Song district were closed because streets were flooded following persistent rain.
In Phipun district, a pickup truck carrying several motorcycles was swept away by floodwaters.
The driver was rescued after abandoning the nearly-sunk vehicle. Rescue workers were attempting to retrieve the vehicle, according to a local news report.