SRT employees voice fears over revamp plan

Many State Railway of Thailand employees yesterday voiced opposition to the agency's restructuring plan, making it likely the upcoming opening of the Airport Rail Link will be further delayed.

At a conference in Bangkok's Sofitel Centara Grand Hotel, 1,500 SRT workers endorsed their labour union's stance against the much-needed restructuring that earlier led to a strike.

The Cabinet-approved restructuring plan sets up two companies: one to operate train services and one to manage the SRT's real-estate interests.

One of the firms will be responsible for running the Bt35-billion Airport Rail Link between central Bangkok and Suvarnabhumi Airport, which is due to start operations in December.

However, the SRT's union opposes the plan, arguing it will lead to the privatisation of rail service, with private firms invited to run some routes.

Union president Sawit Kaewwan said the union would submit a counterproposal to the government in which the SRT would run the Airport Rail Link itself.

"We still have time to prepare for the actual opening of this service in February 2010, because a batch of 172 students will shortly graduate from their railway-engineering course. They'll be trained for this purpose," he said.

Sawit also asked for a better explanation as to why the SRT had accumulated as much as Bt72 billion in losses.

"These losses came from our investment in railroad infrastructure (Bt14.3 billion), locomotives (12.3 billion) and the Airport Rail Link. It's unfair to place this burden on the SRT," Sawit said.

"We're not resisting change for increased efficiency, but this restructuring plan is more like a transfer of state assets to the private sector," he said.