Following the news about the train that has derailed yesterday afternoon, a scrap metal shop owner was arrested for stealing (or in this case, receiving stolen goods) rail-track ‘pins’ that causes the derailment of 6 coaches heading south from Bangkok to Chumpon province. The incident happened in Petchburi province (between Huay Sai Tai and Hua Hin Station).
It took more than 8 hours to lift the coaches back onto the tracks, and inspected the railway lines and its’ missing pins (that holds the railway tracks onto the timber sleepers).
The State Railway of Thailand reported that train #255 from Thonburi to Lang Suan station in Chumphon province had an incident at 12:04 p.m. after departing the Huay Sai Tai station in Cha-am.
They confirmed that six coaches had jumped off the rails and suspected that the steel nails used to hold the tracks onto the sleepers had been stolen. The railway team uses cranes to lift the coaches back onto the tracks and assess the damage.
The acting State Railway governor says inspectors found 168 fastening screws and 40 track base-plates were missing, along with 340 damaged wooden sleepers over a distance of 350 metres.
Police and railway officials raided the Rungcharoen Scrap Metal Shop in Cha-am district last night. They found 25 track base-plates and 66 rail-track pins in the premises.
The owner, Supachai Padsri, was arrested for theft and receiving stolen items. He is denying the charges, claiming that a person had deposited the items at his shop a few days ago.
Source: Bangkok Post
