Train services to the three southernmost provinces and the Malaysia border will resume on Monday after the completion of major repairs to a section of track damaged by an insurgent bomb blast.
State Railway of Thailand governor Wutthichart Kalayanamitr on Sunday and a team of SRT executives joined passengers on the Hat Yai to Sungai Kolok train to test the rail track’s strength before services from Bangkok to Sungai Kolok resume on Monday to accommodate the rising number of Muslims going to the South for the Hari Raya Aidiladha festival.
Mr Wutthichart said the SRT had temporarily suspended all services to the three southernmost provinces since Sept 3 for th repairs to the damaged track. Security forces were beefed up during the repair work, which was completed on Friday.
The suspension of the train services followed the deadly bomb attack on a Sungai Kolok-Hat Yai train at the Ban Nikhom Khok Pho in Pattani’s Khok Pho district on the evening of Sept 3.
The force of the explosion blew away half of the last carriage and killed train worker Chawalit Khongpan, who was sitting in the carriage at the time. The blast also injured three people, including train station chief Amnuay Mapae, 49, Ekkabolloh Bilkodem, 47, a defence volunteer on the train; and Supit Suwanmanee, 54, a train service employee.
As large numbers of Muslims returned to their home towns in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat between Sept 10 and 11, the SRT arranged four buses to transfer them to their destinations in the three southernmost provinces, the SRT governor said.
In Pattani, security has been beefed up at Khok Pho railway station in Pattani ahead of the resumption of train services on Monday.
Mrs Kholeeyoh Halee, a resident of Pattani's Khok Pho district, said the bomb blast badly hurt low-income people and urged insurgents to stop using violence. (Photo by Abdulloh Benjakat)
Some 200 local Muslims and religious leaders on Sunday attended a prayer service near Ban Nikhom Khok Pho railway station, the scene of the bomb blast, in a protest against violence.
Kholeeyoh Halee, a resident of Khok Pho district and a regular train passenger, expressed delight after hearing that the train services would return to normal. The bomb attack on the rail track had adversely affected passengers, particularly low-income people using the train services.
Worse still, the blast hurt the local economy, said the woman, adding many vendors could not sell goods.
She appealed to those who stirred up unrest to stop using violence and destroying public utilities as it affected local residents.
Local Muslims and religious leaders in Pattani's Khok Pho district take part in a prayer in a protest against violence. (Photo by Abdulloh Benjakat)