Bangkok’s Me First Attitude Damages all of Thailand

Tags: Bangkok, Business, SRT, Thailand

For the last week or so the headlines across Thailand focused on the recent railway strike. The daily rags and blogs were filled with anti-labor union rants and fervent nationalistic appeals to avoid any foreign involvement regarding the rail system. Calls were once again made to end the government monopoly, solve some of the corruption issues, land allocation issues and to end the blatant mismanagement of SRT. We also saw some suggest that Thailand should start some form of international cooperation with more developed countries that have experience running efficient, economic and safe railway systems. Despite all of the recent talk on this matter, I think we can all rest assured that nothing will change within the SRT. Why? Because the rich in Thailand don’t travel by train and not much happens in Thailand, unless the elite approve. Sounds fairly cynical, right?

We all know the trains have problems. The trains in Thailand are regularly late. They are far too slow. They are dirty. The rails are crumbling. The employees are overworked. There is rampant theft. The toilets are a borderline human rights violation and recently we were told by the union that the trains are dangerous as well. Well, I think we can all agree (yes, even the wealthy elite) that accidents and delays should be the exception, not the rule. So, how did the trains become so dilapidated? So inefficient? So unreliable?

Most people that use the trains in Thailand do so out of necessity. The school children, the commuters, the rural middle-class; for them, the train is a daily necessity. For the average Bangkokian, (read ‘the important Thais’) this is not the case. People in Bangkok have a vast array of choices in regard to public transport. We’ve got a nice skytrain (even though they’ve already begun messing with the signaling system and causing delays between Surasak and Thaksin Bridge), a clean subway, an extensive bus system, taxis are cheap and they’re everyone and the minivans are a blessing for those living in the metropolitan area. Add the millions of motorcycles which swarm cars like flies on feces, and the vast web of streets, sois and sapans and the myriad of transport choices can be overwhelming at times. With all these choices it’s a wonder why there are horrendous traffic jams everyday in the city. Bangkok built a new airport and then added a superfluous and extremely expensive high speed airport railway link. The officials in Bangkok are constantly working on ways to improve transport in the city. An extension to the skytrain, a new ring road, more toll ways and safe streets are the rallying cry of desperate politicians during elections.

What we in Bangkok cannot forget is that the SRT provides an essential service to the poor, the middle-class, the commuters and schoolchildren all over the country. If we can put ourselves in the shoes of the rural masses just for moment, I think we would soon begin to realize the value in investing in the national railway system. How should this be done? Not with another subway line, that’s for sure. SRT needs to modernize. The locomotives must be properly repaired in a timely manner, not every 8 years! We need a dual track system. We need the train to go from east to west and north to stop with minimal delays and even less crime. We need more employees which are paid a salary they can live on. These types of improvement would make the SRT a system that can be used for commuters as well as a modern freight service and the value of a reliable and modern freight service will prove to be both essential and lucrative in the coming years. All in all, it’s high time for the power brokers of Bangkok to stop saying ‘Me first’.