Oil train derails, disrupting northern Thai train services

LAMPHUN, THAILAND, January 6 (TNA) - Thailand's northern train services have been disrupted following a derailment of a cargo train carrying more than 300,000 liters of oil and a cement tank, but no casualties have been reported. The derailment happened at the Nong Lom Station in Sri Buaban Sub-district of Muang District in Lamphun Province in the Thai North at 2:10am on January 6, as the cargo train, carrying 12 tanks each containing 30,000 liters of oil, fell on the ground and five of them cracked with leaked oil soaking rail tracks. Jen Saentham, Chief of the Nong Lom Train Station, told reporters that the cargo train departed from Sara Buri Province in the central region and was heading for Chiang Mai Province in the Thai North, but it derailed in Lamphun, blocking all trains to and from the North with repair expected to take the whole day. Jen said he has called railway staff in Chiang Mai and Lampang to urgently clear and repair the tracks. Meanwhile, buses from Lampang were deployed to carry stranded train passengers to Chiang Mai, while workers expected the repair would take almost the whole Wednesday. (TNA)