Ratchaburi: A truck driver was killed and a woman seriously injured when a train slammed into their 18-wheel vehicle at a railway crossing in Ratchaburi’s Pak Tho district yesterday morning.
The accident happened at 10.40am in Bo Takro village, tambon Bo Padan.
Pol Lt Theerasak Yimjoey, a duty officer at Pak Tho police station, said a No 38 train travelling from Narathiwat to Bangkok was moving at high speed when it hit the truck.
The truck was attempting to cross the train tracks at a junction without any safety barriers.
Truck driver Prawit Sae Tan, 53, was killed instantly and a woman later identified as Supat Sangthong, 45, was seriously injured and rushed to a nearby hospital, police said. The truck was torn in half by the collision.
A preliminary investigation found that the truck driver, who was en route from Pak Tho to tambon Khu Bua, had edged close to the tracks because a nearby signpost was blocking his view of the railway line.
Police said they would ask the State Railway of Thailand to provide funds to build a barrier at the crossing since there have been many accidents there.
A Transport Ministry survey last year showed Thailand has a total of 2,517 railway crossings, but only 775 are approved by the SRT.
The rest are unregulated and few of those have safety barriers.
In the year to Sept 30 last year, official statistics showed 127 accidents took place at both illegal and legal rail crossings, leaving 27 dead and 91 injured.
About 87% of rail crossing accidents happen where there are no barricades, officials said.