Train services between Songkhla province and the far South will be suspended through the weekend as railway employees labour to remove a derailed train and repair the track.
The Hat Yai railway station is relatively deserted on Friday. (Photo by Wichayant Boonchote)
Local train number 452 (Sungai Kolok-Nakhon Si Thammarat) derailed Thursday between Tha Maeng Lak and Chana stations in Ban Khok Ma village. Seven passengers and train staffers were injured.
On Friday, trains could not run from the Hat Yai station to three southern border provinces. Local trains could operate between Yala and Sungai Kolok stations and service between Hat Yai and Bangkok continued as usual.
Railway authorities at the Hat Yai station deployed four buses to carry passengers arriving from Bangkok to their destinations in the three southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat as their long-distance trains had to stop at the Hat Yai station.
Saman Raksawong, the Hat Yai railway inspector, said on Friday that the removal of derailed carriages and the repair of the track in Ban Na sub-district in Chana district would take three days.
He also said that a committee would investigate if rail-fastening components had been removed, causing the damage.