Rail is route to freedom for Thailand’s car slaves

Millions upon millions of litres of gas are wasted while cars stand still and residents are forced to breathe this brown air. Road rage has added a new element now, with drivers attacking each other. Songkran death tallies are a grisly annual tradition. It doesn’t help that many drivers have little road etiquette or training. Or that the police abandon enforcing the law in favour of harassing motorcyclists, the only ones who can still move efficiently in heavy traffic – at least when the cops aren’t turning off computerised traffic lights and running them manually to give themselves something to do. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. We need a full subway system and a train system that reaches all parts of Bangkok. We need an affordable and reliable train network that reaches all of Thailand. We certainly don’t need a high-speed rail link to Singapore, built for China at our expense. The average Thai won’t even be able to afford to ride it. Stop being slaves to your cars and demand trains and subways.

Karl Stanford