At least Mussolini kept the trains running on time

You seem to have somewhat downplayed the seriousness of the BTS debacle by saying it’s a “rush hour” problem. At 10pm on Tuesday – hardly peak time – passengers on Samrong-bound trains on the Sukhumvit line were packed like sardines to the point where I couldn’t board the first one arriving at my station and had to hold my breath to squeeze onto the second, which came along some time later.
A recorded voice, which seemed to possess more than a hint of disingenuous exasperation, was assuring us on the platform that the Skytrain operator was apologetic for the situation. Not doing anything about it apparently, just sorry it happened.
Exactly what has suddenly gone wrong with the usually reliable – dare I say, essential – Skytrain service? Apparently it has something to do with the “leakage” of wireless signals between the BTS communications system and those used by a mobile-phone operator.
How has that been allowed to happen? That seems to be not just a failure by the two companies involved but a like a regulatory failure in allowing them to use the same or similar frequencies. If this were Japan, at least the senior officials of the entity or entities involved would have had the decency to present a public mea culpa and then resign.
Additionally, since the buck stops with PM Prayut and he has unlimited power, he ought to take a break from campaigning for the election in which he isn’t even officially a candidate and do something to ensure the trains get back on the rails. (As the old story goes, even the largely unlamented Mussolini could manage to get them to run on time.)
Sadly, whenever something like this occurs in Thailand, our minds reach immediately to just two possible explanations: incompetence or corruption. If either (or both) proves true, heads should roll. Unlike the trains, which are largely at a standstill.
B Davies