Rolling stock varies in quality but generally is quite comfortable, especially sleeping cars. However most of the carriages are old and the cleanliness often leaves a lot to be desired.
The system is state owned and funded.
In the UK the once state owned railway is now run by separate regional railway companies. Providing clean, safe and high speed travel between major population centres. There are 16,000 km of track in the UK. It is expensive to travel at peak times on British railways.
OK so why am I posting about railways in Thailand and the UK today. Well yesterday there was a sudden unexpected strike by workers of Thailand's State Railway (SRT) because they have got wind of the Thai governments plans to privatise the railways. Everything ground to a halt and doesn't look like moving in the near future.
However if you were able to take a trip back to the UK before 1993 you would find that many of the problems that affect Thai Railways today actually also affected the then British Railways. Poor time keeping, aging rolling stock and dirty trains were common features of a system that at the time provided cheap rail travel just like in Thailand today.
In the UK privatisation of the countries rail system implemented initially by the then Conservative government brought about political turmoil and strikes by railway workers although the opposition Labour Party after helping to fuel the initial unrest actually continued with the privatisation programme when they came to power in the late 1990's.
So would privatisation of the SRT be good for Thailand and the travelling public? On the one hand it might well lead to a cleaner more efficient service but on the other hand fares would inevitable rise, which would be of grave concern to many less wealthy Thais who rely on the system to provide cheap and in some cases free railway travel throughout Thailand.
In many ways the current Abhist government seem to be following a more conservative approach to many policies including privatisation. Who knows perhaps the PM was influenced in his formative years by Margaret Thatcher since he grew up and was educated in the UK during that dominant Conservative period. A period in UK history that saw the end of rouge trade unions with the defeat of the mine workers and privatisation of the coal mining industry.
Of course in Thailand things are very different to the UK and to many Thais I guess the thought of privatisation of SRT will just be seen as a way that some dishonest brokers might find a new way to line their pockets.
Finally while rail privatisation can work e.g. UK, so can state ownership e.g. France, what the right track for Thailand is remains to be seen.
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