Officials on Monday blamed Sunday’s fatal collision of a train and double-decker bus in Nakhon Pathom province Sunday on red tape and loud music.
Deputy Transport Minister Ormsin Chivapruck said on Monday that the crash occurred at a grade crossing where the Department of Rural Roads had installed automatic barriers, but they were inoperative because the department had yet to deliver completed paperwork to the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).
He ordered the department this week to activate 20 such completed barriers stalled by red tape across the country.
Police spokesman Detnarong Sutthicharnbancha said on Monday that an initial investigation found that loud music had been playing on the bus before it was hit by the train. Police would decide if the music made it impossible for the driver to hear the train or if reckless driving was involved, he said.
Three people were killed and some 30 hurt when the Bangkok-Kanchanaburi train hit the Nakhon Pathom-Rayong tour bus. SRT governor Wuthichart Kalyanamitra said on Monday the train driver tested negative for blood alcohol and the train was running at 45 kilometres an hour and whistled to warn vehicles at the crossing.
He also said that the SRT management was trying to educate people living near trains to not build illegal crossings for their own safety, but they remained a problem.