Passengers left waiting hours at Bangkok’s new central train station

The opening of Bangkok‘s new central train station Bangkok Aphiwat Central Station did not go so smoothly yesterday with the first service to Chiang Mai departing three hours later than scheduled and many more delayed services.

BBC Thai and CH7 report that services were delayed to await the arrival of Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, who was rather late to an opening ceremony he presided over, according to netizens.

The new station, previously named Bang Sue Station, is replacing Hua Lamphong Station on the edge of China Town as Bangkok’s main rail hub.

The biggest change is that long-distance services that have operated out of Hua Lamphong for years are now operating from Bangkok Aphiwat Central Station.

The first service to Chiang Mai – train 109 – from the new rail hub was scheduled to depart at 2.15pm but ended up leaving three hours later, reports BBC Thai.

Thai News Pix photos reveal that most of the passengers who were left waiting hours for the long-distance train to Chiang Mai were Western tourists.

After hours of waiting around, some tourists even missed the train to Chiang Mai because there was no announcement when it finally departed…

“I planned to go to Chiang Mai, but now I’ll go to Pattaya instead,” a tourist who missed the train told BBC Thai.

Train 985 – a swanky red and grey locomotive – to Sungai Golok on the border of Malaysia departed 95 minutes later than scheduled.

A second service to Chiang Mai was reportedly delayed by 52 minutes and special express train 23 to Udon Thani was reportedly delayed by 185 minutes.

There were as many as 40 – 50 foreign tourists lying on the platforms waiting for various services yesterday. When tourists asked staff what was going on, they said the train wasn’t ready to leave without providing a real explanation, according to BBC Thai.

According to CH7, one netizen commented on the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) PR’s Facebook page…

“We are waiting for the transport minister to arrive first. It’s crazy. Is the time of passengers not as valuable as the time of the minister?”