Transport
Railway union rejects plans to close the Hua Lamphong Station which is set to be closed in November

Trains, planes and buses in Thailand all have restricted travel at the moment. In the case of the flights, domestic carriers have been forced to cancel or reschedule hundreds of flights due to the high drop off of passenger traffic since the start of Thailand’s second wave of Covid-19 which kicked off on December 20 last year. But amidst the closures and restrictions, the move of Bangkok’s transport hubs has been continuing.
For the railways and the interprovincial bus networks, the government has closed down many of the services in recent weeks. The government is also proposing to close down train services out of the main Bangkok train hub, Hua Lamphong Station. But not because of Covid.
Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong Station is scheduled to stop being the hub for the country’s train networks in November this year when the newer, much larger Bang Sue Grand Station comes on line near the Chatuchak, north of the city centre. Hua Lamphong Station, open for 105 years, will end its role as the city’s main rail transport hub. The old station is located in between the Sukhumvit business and shopping areas, Chinatown and many of the capital’s main tourism sites and temples.
Bang Sue Grand Station in Chatuchak, will be Thailand’s new railway hub. It will replace the existing Hua Lamphong Station as the terminus for all long-distance rail services from Bangkok. The SRT proposes that the historic Hua Lamphong railway station will be used as a train depot and maintenance station. There is also a small museum at the station which catalogues the venerable old station’s contribution to the modern growth of the Thai capital.
But the State Railway Workers’ Union won’t hear of it and has rejected plans to close train services at Bangkok’s main train station.
President of The State Railway Workers’ Union, Suwit Kaewwan, has sent an official letter to Transport Minister stating that “thousands of commuters will be affected if all train services to Hua Lamphong Station closed this November as planned”.
“The Union disagrees with the idea that all train routes to Hua Lamphong should end. We would rather see a few routes being kept in service to reduce the impact on commuters.”
The closure will effect some commuters when services are re-routed to the new Bang Sue hub. Commuters living in the west suburbs of Bangkok have relied on riding cheap and regular services to Hua Lamphong Station. Eastbound train routes used Hua Lamphong Station as a junction point. Hua Lamphong railway station connects to the MRT at the Hua Lamphong MRT station.
The union says that the State Railway Authority will lose future business opportunities if it closed Hua Lamphong railway station.
“The station is more than just a large train station but also offers cultural and historical value, which the SRT could exploit. SRT would squander opportunities for using Hua Lamphong to develop cultural tourism or arranging special train services if it closes.”
The new Bang Sue Grand Station already has connections to the existing MRT network and the yet-to-be-opened Airport Link to the Don Mueang International Airport.
The SRT governor admits some train commuters will be affected but that the agency has completed a contingency plan to help reduce the impact.
“It is similar to the closure of Don Muang Airport. Some people were affected. The next challenge is deciding what to do to reduce the impacts.”
PHOTO: The venerable 109 year old railways station is set to be closed in November this year.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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Tourism
Day trip to Bangkok’s closest island – Koh Si Chang | VIDEO

Ko Si Chang (or Koh Sichang) is a district of Chon Buri Province, Thailand. It consists of the island of Ko Si Chang and its adjoining islands. Ko Si Chang is in the Gulf of Thailand, 12 kilometres off the shore of the Si Racha District coastline. It’s the closest island to Bangkok and a popular weekend away for Bangkokians. Pangrum takes us on a quick visit to the island with today’s latest Thaiger Vlog.
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Thailand acknowledges wildlife markets could be dangerous to humans

The Thai Ministry of Public Health is being praised after seemingly doing an about face over whether Bangkok’s Chatuchak Weekend Market could be the source of Covid‐19. After health officials denied that the World Health Organisation was investigating the market, a recent Facebook live press conference saw the Ministry acknowledging that wildlife trades may endanger public health.
The recent investigation by the WHO of Wuhan, the province in China where Covid19 is thought to have originated, has concluded that the virus most likely did not come from a laboratory, and instead, came from animals supplied by Chinese wildlife breeding farms, or from infected animals traded somewhere in Southeast Asia. As Chatuchak Market is arguably the region’s largest illegal wildlife trade market, a Danish virologist on the WHO investigation team pointed towards the Bangkok market as a potential source of the Covid19 virus.
Now, the Thai Ministry of Public Health is going to collaborate with the Ministry of Environment and its Department of National Parks to closely inspect Chatuchak market, and roll out a joint plan to increase wildlife protection and stop the wild animal trade in markets.
Southeast Asia has historically supplied most of China’s wildlife trade, which the virologist sees as worrisome. As commercially traded animals can carry pathogens that could compromise a human’s immune system. For example, in 2019, zebras that were legally imported into Thailand, carried a small fly species that jumped to local horses, causing African Horse Sickness. The mortality rate was over 90%, causing over 600 horse deaths.
Some animals are especially susceptible to viruses hosted by bats, such as the SARS virus. That virus jumped from a civet cat that was infected by a bat. Other viruses that are thought to have jumped from bats to other animals include rabies and Ebola. Minks and Pangolins have also been discovered to carry a coronavirus and are still being commercially traded in Southeast Asia today.
In a spotcheck carried out by Freeland, a global nonprofit organisation, Chatuchak Market is still selling ferrets, coati, civets, polecats, mongoose, raccoons, meerkats, scarlet macaws, capybara, african gray parrots, cougars, multiple species of turtles, snakes, rodents and lizards from Latin America, Africa and Australia.
SOURCE: Freeland
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Health officials deny WHO investigation into Bangkok’s Chatuchak market as potential origin of Covid

Health officials in Thailand are denying reports that the World Health Organisation is investigating Chatuchak market in Bangkok in ongoing efforts to establish the origin of Covid-19. The reports have surfaced in Danish media, following a WHO visit to Wuhan last month, with doubt hanging over the theory that the pandemic started in the central Chinese city.
Nation Thailand reports that the Department of Disease Control has held a press briefing in which it refutes suggestions the virus could have come from wildlife traded at Chatuchak market. The market has previously come under fire from animal welfare and wildlife protection organisations. In 2016, research by wildlife protection group Traffic pointed to the market’s ongoing illegal trade in protected bird species, while an earlier report highlighted the market’s role in the illegal trade of freshwater turtles and tortoises.
Despite several conservation experts pointing to the risks associated with the wildlife trade, Chawetsan Namwat from the DDC denies the suggestion the WHO is investigating the market for potential links to Covid-19. He says the media reports are based on evidence that the Thai horseshow bat carries another SARS virus that shares over 91% of its genetic code with the Covid-19 virus. He adds that this virus cannot be transmitted to humans, saying the DDC’s advice continues to be that humans should not consume wild animals.
“This is just an academic assumption, not absolute truth. We are constantly monitoring the animal-trading zone in Chatuchak weekend market. Even if there is no clear evidence on the origin of this virus, we still need to be vigilant and maintain strong disease-prevention measures.”
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
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Toby Andrews
Sunday, January 31, 2021 at 2:37 pm
Closing this station is a mistake. Hua Lampong is in the centre of Bangkok. Chatachuck is way out.
Connections are in place next to the present Hue Lampongy station.
My theory is that some Thai with influence and cash, sold the new station to the government to make money.
Of course I could be totally and utterly wrong.
Issan John
Sunday, January 31, 2021 at 8:31 pm
Umm … so when they “sold the new station to the government to make money” did they sell the “connections to the existing MRT network and the yet-to-be-opened Airport Link to the Don Mueang International Airport” as well, Toby A?
Or did they just sell the site, as that already belonged to the SRT?
Just trying to work out how your latest cunning plan worked, Toby …
Toby Andrews
Monday, February 1, 2021 at 9:17 am
Keep trying to work out the plan, you will never accept it because to you, Thais can do no wrong.
The MRT was already there, and this link to to the airport is not opened. Is it even built?
Thais do not do things that make no sense, unless someone, somewhere makes money, and it will not be the average Thai.
Issan John
Monday, February 1, 2021 at 1:40 pm
So … if “the MRT was already there” then how did “some Thai with influence and cash, sold the new station to the government to make money”?
Or did the MRT make the money by selling it to … the MRT?
I’m not saying “Thais can do no wrong”, but that doesn’t stop them getting some things right – they kicked you out, after all.
Toby Andrews
Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 11:59 am
We are not debating the MRT. We are debating a new railway center station built in a place in Bangkok that is not central, and not convenient for the citizens.
Put simply it was built there because the persons doing the building made money.
There can be no other explanation.
By the way I was not kicked out, and I am not returning until I receive a personal invitation from Reich Fuhrer Prayut Cha Cha Cha.
James Pate
Monday, February 1, 2021 at 2:42 pm
I like the comparison to Don Muang Airport. It didn’t stay closed very long. The plan to close the old train station doesn’t make sense. It would render the adjoining MRT station almost useless. Additionally, either Makkasan or Bang Sue would be a better location for repairs, etc. I’m glad discussions on re-thinking the closure are happening.