Opening of Thailand's north-bound train services delayed

BANGKOK, October 26 (TNA) - Repairs of railway tracks in the Thai North, earlier scheduled to be complete at the end of this month, have been delayed and they will be ready on November 30, 2013 instead. Prapas Jongsanguan, Governor of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) announced the new schedule, after inspecting the repair work on Friday (Oct 25), reasoning that heavy downpours recently and the shortage of workers are the main causes of the delay. Prapas reported that workers have changed aged wooden sleepers to concrete sleepers and laid new rail lines weighing 100 pounds during the ongoing repair. The governor said the SRT has decided to postpone the resumption of part of Thailand's northern train services, from Sila At railway station to the Chiang Mai, by another one month for the safety of passengers, as SRT engineers are confident that the ongoing repair, which began on September 16, 2013, will be complete by the end of next month. According to the SRT governor, expenses on the repair are projected to stand at about 2.85 billion baht (TNA)