UTTARADIT : The same train that derailed last month in Phrae, injuring 30 passengers, derailed again in early yesterday.
OFF THE TRACKS: Workers repairs broken sleepers after a Bangkok-Chiang Mai train derailed in the Ban Khao Phlueng tunnel in Uttaradit’s Muang district.
No one was hurt in yesterday's accident.
The Bangkok-Chiang Mai express train carrying 302 passengers, 90% of them foreigners, was heading to Chiang Mai when it derailed about 4.30am.
The accident happened in the Ban Khao Phlueng tunnel in Muang district, blocking the line for other trains. No Bangkok- and Chiang Mai-bound trains were operating at press time last night.
The derailed train was quickly salvaged and towed out of the 382-metre tunnel to Den Chai station in Den Chai district in neighbouring Phrae, but rail officials said it would take several hours to replace the broken sleepers. Noey Somboonthakoeng, who led a rescue team to help passengers, said the State Railway of Thailand had hired a coach to transfer the passengers to Chiang Mai.
Mr Noey said the train involved in the accident was the same one that was involved in the derailment in Ban Pak Pan of Phrae's Den Chai district on July 17. Fortunately, this time the train did not overturn because the derailment occurred in the tunnel. The derailed carriages were propped up against the wall of the tunnel, he said. Two of the eight carriages jumped the tracks, but none were damaged. It was believed that the cause of the derailment was old and broken sleepers.