EDITORIAL : THE BANGKOK POST, THAILAND

 

 

BTS' growing pains need attention

In commemoration of Her Majesty the Queen's birthday on Aug 12, the long-awaited extension of the BTS Sukhumvit line from On Nut to Baring will be open to the public, with free rides until Jan 1 of next year. The extension opens up a large swathe of the city to mass rail transit including much of Phra Khanong and Bang Na, and will provide great benefits to businesses and the general public. The Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre has invested 750 million baht to improve and renovate facilities in anticipation of growth driven by accessibility to the skytrain.

This is, of course, good news. The BTS and the MRT underground rail line have given much to inner city residents in terms of convenience, and made the city much more attractive to tourists. It seems that early fears that rank-and-file Bangkokians would avoid the trains because they are too expensive were unfounded. With a BTS pass a trip the entire length of the line is only 20 baht, not much less than an air-con bus and a lot faster.
But with the success of the trains has come crowding, especially on the BTS. This is inevitable and expected by passengers at certain times of the day, but sometimes it is excessive. Commuters waiting at the Siam interchange station frequently have to let several trains go by before they can squeeze in, and the platform at the interchange is often packed to capacity. This is potentially hazardous since there are no barriers in front of the tracks.
Obviously when the On Nut to Baring extension opens in just a little over a month, the overcrowding at peak periods will only get worse, as it is expected to serve around 120,000 commuters day. So far there is no word from the Bangkok Mass Transit System about any plans to lessen crowding on the Sukhumvit line.
More trains may not be the answer, since at times trains must wait between stations for forward trains to load. Instead, more cars on each train is probably the right approach. The Silom line has for many months had trains with four cars, but so far all trains on the Sukhumvit line are still set at three. The system's designers reserved space to accommodate five cars at all stations. It seems obvious that at some time in the near future this will be needed, especially as another long extension of the Silom line, from Taksin station to Phetkasem, is projected to open on Dec 5, 2012.
WORLD HERITAGE ROW A STRATEGIC BLUNDER
The announcement on Friday from Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti that Thailand might quit its membership of the Unesco World Heritage Convention over a draft agreement on issues regarding the management plan for Preah Vihear temple seems ill-considered to say the least. Aside from the fact that the threat seems childish at a glance, withdrawing from the world heritage body would be harmful to Thailand's national interests. The world heritage stamp brings visitors to the country and it also assures that the sites will be well maintained and guarded against neglect and possible exploitation. There are five official world heritage sites in Thailand and a dozen or more proposed sites.
The timing of the threat and the reasoning behind it are curious. The draft report was prepared by the World Heritage Centre because Thailand and Cambodia could not agree to the wording of reports drawn up separately. Mr Suwit, who is leading the Thai delegation at a meeting of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) in Paris, said Thailand would quit the convention merely if the report is forwarded for consideration to the WHC. That amounts to acknowledging defeat very early in the game. In explaining his actions Mr Suwit mystifyingly said that words in the draft like ''restoration'' and ''repair''may be used in the future to refer to repairs of damages in attacks by Thai troops. He wants these words replaced with ''protection'' and ''conservation''.
Thailand does seem to be at a definite disadvantage in the negotiations which centre around disputing claims to territory around the ancient Preah Vihear temple.
This is largely due to a series of tactical errors from Thai negotiators, such as the one by Mr Suwit on Friday, which must be seen as overly defensive by the WHC and international observers. This in turn may be because Cambodia probably has the stronger case.
Even if Thailand does ultimately lose out in the battle over the Preah Vihear buffer zone, it would be a mistake to quit the WHC. It would be an even bigger mistake to quit before the issue has been decided.