It was indeed a miracle that there were no fatalities or serious injuries among the 700 passengers trapped in the stuffy carriages of the Airport Rail Link's City Line, without air conditioning, for almost an hour under the scorching sun before being rescued. Seven passengers were reported to have fainted and were given first aid.
A power failure was blamed for causing the train to break down as it was heading towards the Makkasan terminal from Suvarnabhumi airport. This incident came as no surprise given the past record of the train service which has been dogged by a host of unresolved problems ranging from management and maintenance concerns, to an offhand approach by successive governments to helping solve its problems.
From the very beginning, the 30-billion-baht project, widely known as the Airport Link, got off to a poor start. According to the contract, the project was due to be completed in November 2007. But it was twice postponed because the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), the project owner, was unable to hand over land at the Makkasan site to the contractor within the specified timeframe. As a result, the project was completed three years behind schedule and the train service -- City Line and Express Line -- was launched on Aug 23, 2010.
Besides the three-year delay and loss of opportunity for the SRT, more problems have emerged. According to a report released by the Thailand Policy Foundation in June 2013, the number of passengers using the service of both lines in the first three years of operation was about half that projected. The SRT estimated about 95,000 passengers for the two lines a day but the actual number of users was about 40,000, including 38,000 for the City Line and 2,500 for the Express Line running between Suvarnabhumi airport and the Phaya Thai and Makkasan terminals.
A train comprised of four carriages was supposed to leave Suvarnabhumi airport to Makkasan every 15 minutes. But, in reality, the train left every one hour with two carriages while the rest were shifted to the City Line to replenish a shortage of trains. Also, there was no convenient link between the Makkasan terminal with the MRT system at Phetchaburi station or the BTS line at Phaya Thai station causing problems for tourists with luggage who needed to use the two mass transit systems. On top of that, the SRT was charged 7% interest for the loan it was granted to implement the project instead of 2.5% for similar projects.
This explains why the Airport Rail Link, a subsidiary of the SRT set up to operate the Airport Link services, has been operating at a loss since the start of its operations and cannot afford a major overhaul which is long overdue. Expectations that the situation will turn around for the better are wishful thinking without the government getting involved to address some of the problems such as financial concerns and organisational reform.
Pinning the blame on the Airport Link for its amateurish handling of the incident on Monday or addressing the power failure, which was the cause of the train's breakdown, only amounts to scratching the surface.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha hit the nail on its head when he said that the Airport Link has had problems for a long time and nobody has bothered to pay attention to them.
The questions are: Will his government act like its predecessors and do nothing? Or will it start doing something in earnest to turn around the situation? Monday's incident should serve as a wake-up call. It is time to start acting, not continue finger-pointing.