Railway Crossing Safety

[Big Boy]

I'm on the school run this week with my granddaughters, En-route to school this morning, we saw the craziest thing ever.

As we approached Soi 88 Railway Crossing, the lights started flashing, and the bells were ringing. Driving a great lump of truck, I obediently slowed and stopped before the barriers came down. Of course there were the usual motor cycle crazies that ran the barrier - TIT, they were OK, their amulets protect them .

Then the crazy bit................. the barrier was dropping, and a guy in his 50s, with what I assume were 2 young grandchildren on his motorcycle moved to the wrong side of the road to get under the falling barrier. They were trapped in the middle, with the train coming.

The crossing guy came out of his hut - phew thinks I, he going to help them - wrong, he came out to watch. The train is getting closer.

Then in a well practiced move, the eldest kid (about 6) got off the back of the motorcycle, walked to the barrier and somehow lifted it above his head. The old man rode his motorcycle under the slightly raised barrier and stopped to let the eldest kid back on. I was expecting the crossing guard to give the old man an almighty bollocking, but no, the show was over, so he went back into his hut to continue watching TV.

Absolutely bonkers - there must have been less than 10 seconds between the train (certain death) and safety. The old guy rode away as if nothing had happened,

[usual suspect]

The SRT-worker probably sees this type of incident every morning BB.
I have, on many occasions been the 1st to stop at a red-light..so have had chance to observe what the Thais on m/c's do to get their place... ready for the almighty green-light rush.
Late at night they all fly off from the Chomsin Rd rail crossing on their souped-up 2-wheelers & it's like an F! race to see how many get round that 1st right-hand bend before heading off up the Pala U Rd..Ha!

[Big Boy]

I too have seen many of the crazy Thai (and Farang copy cats) antics at railway crossings, but this is the first time I've seen somebody trapped in no-man's land.

My favourite used to be the old Soi 88 barrier, which was basically a wire, which was raised and lowered. It was an incredible sight to watch people limbo under the wire on their motorcycles at speed. Never, ever saw one come off their bike though.

[Nereus]

And then we wonder why the kids grow up doing the same stupid BS. The old man should be strung up by his goolies until they fall off.

[Bristolian]

We all know that the Thai motorcyclist usually gets away with any accident involving a vehicle with full insurance. I assume that the train is insured! and therefore In the event of a "hit" by a train his family would probably claim that the train driver did not try to swerve to avoid him and be paid compensation. TIT

[Big Boy]

Does anybody know what the correct procedure is if you get to the barrier and its down, and its still down 10 minutes later?

I had that situation this morning going into what I call the rear entrance to Khao Takiab. I sat there patiently, but there must have been at least 50 vehicles, if you include mototcycles that didn't. In the direction I was travelling, I could only see 10 yards maximum. If a train had arrived, there would have very little warning/chance of avoiding it.

I will admit that after 10 minutes, I did ask Mrs BB to get out of the car and guide me across if she was sure it was clear. As she approached the barrier, it lifted.

In the UK, unmanned crossings used to have telephones. I could see no such option here.

[Nereus]

This should fix it:

Volunteers to man rail crossings nationwide

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... nationwide

The Interior Ministry has instructed provinces to find civil defence volunteers to man railway crossings during scheduled train services in an attempt to curb accidents.

Chayapol Titisak, a deputy permanent secretary and the ministry’s spokesperson, said the accidents at railway crossings had resulted in losses of lives and damage to properties so the ministry held a meeting with the State Railway of Thailand to jointly work in preventing the accidents. .......................>

[Bamboo Grove]

Reminded me of my first trans-Siberian train trip to China. Somewhere in the plains of North-Eastern China's Heilongjiang province there was a small dirt road in the middle of nowhere crossing the railroad. In the intersection was a small hut and a lonely man standing by the railroad with a red flag stopping the traffic when the train came. The visibility was great to every direction, there were no buildings anywhere to be seen and no traffic (this was 1986) but he stood their with a smile on his face when the train passed his outpost. Wonder what great things he had done to achieve such a post. I could imagine a donkey cart passing the hut once in a week.

[Big Boy]

This should fix it:

Volunteers to man rail crossings nationwide

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... nationwide

The Interior Ministry has instructed provinces to find civil defence volunteers to man railway crossings during scheduled train services in an attempt to curb accidents.

Chayapol Titisak, a deputy permanent secretary and the ministry’s spokesperson, said the accidents at railway crossings had resulted in losses of lives and damage to properties so the ministry held a meeting with the State Railway of Thailand to jointly work in preventing the accidents. .......................>

That's basically what they did at Soi 94 crossing until the barrier was fitted,

[HHTel]

Except they were not voluteers but detailed police. The last accident at the time involved someone from the mayor's family I seem to remember.

[Big Boy]

Really? A scruffy bunch for police officers then

[HHTel]

As far as I was told by a local cop, the situation was given to the police. There were police there on some occasions and 'volunteers' were paid.

[Pleng]

Does anybody know what the correct procedure is if you get to the barrier and its down, and its still down 10 minutes later?

I had that situation this morning going into what I call the rear entrance to Khao Takiab. I sat there patiently, but there must have been at least 50 vehicles, if you include mototcycles that didn't. In the direction I was travelling, I could only see 10 yards maximum. If a train had arrived, there would have very little warning/chance of avoiding it.

I will admit that after 10 minutes, I did ask Mrs BB to get out of the car and guide me across if she was sure it was clear. As she approached the barrier, it lifted.

In the UK, unmanned crossings used to have telephones. I could see no such option here.

That crossing persistently has has these issues.

There is (or was) a hotline number you could call to report problems with crossings. I know because my girlfriend used it to report the one on soi 94, when its clock was out of sync. I seem to recall that it was one of those 4-digit hotcodes and we found the number by typing "SRT hotilne" or "State Railway of Thailand Hotline" into google. I've just done a quick search on both those terms just now, however, and neither come up with anything of much value.

[Big Boy]

Thanks for trying - I'm really nervous crossing in such circumstances. Craziest thing this morning was a kiddie about 10 years old crossing on his motorcycle, and then trying to wave us across.

[hhinner]

The hotline is 1690. I wonder what would happen first if you tried it - someone answers or the barrier opens anyway.