Rape risks on Thai trains

If travellers thought train travel was fun in Thailand they should think again; it can be dangerous especially for female travellers.
Once praised for punctuality and safety, Thailand’s trains are now notorious for dangerous derailments, theft, drug abuse and most recently an increase in incidents of sexual abuse and rape of female travellers.
State Railway of Thailand, said on Monday, it will impose a system-wide ban on the sale of alcohol on all trains following the vicious rape and killing of a 13-year old school girl.
According to the national news TV channel Thai PBS, SRT governor Praphat Chongsa-nguan reported, Tuesday, that the legal department had been instructed to come up with a regulation banning the sale of all alcoholic drinks on all trains.
In a comment that was more confusing than educational the governor said: “Passengers could bring their own alcoholic drinks on board, but if they are seen drinking they would be invited to disembark from the train.”
He was responding to the shocking disclosure that a railway employee, who was allegedly intoxicated on booze and drugs, raped and killed a schoolgirl on a train travelling from Surat Thani to Bangkok, Sunday evening.
The Bangkok-Surat Thani sleeper trains are popular with young foreign backpackers who are heading for Samui island. They book overnight train services (usually second class air-conditioned berths) that take around 12 hours to cover the journey to Surat Thani.
News anchors on various TV stations identified past incidents of SRT employees raping female travellers on long-distance train journeys.
The last incident was in 2001 when a female traveller was raped on train heading south. The rapist was jailed for nine years.
Incidents occurred despite SRT having its own police force with officers patrolling trains throughout the night.
Social media sites were jammed with comments from shocked citizens who called the introduction of capital punishment for rape.
More than 15,000 people signed an online petition, asking that rapists be executed rather than face a punishment of four to 20 years in prison and a fine.
This latest, appalling crime carried out by a SRT employee also highlighted the lack of adequate background checks on rail employees. In this case the rapist had a criminal history and peddled drugs at the time he was upgraded from a temporary to a fully employed SRT worker. The disclosure prompted calls for the SRT governor to resign.
Police arrested the employee after he threw the victim off the train to the rail embankment. She died of injuries incurred in the fall from the speeding train.
The suspect confessed during a police investigation of all train employees when the train reached Bangkok. He has since been charged with premeditated murder.
The SRT governor told Thai PBS that he “might introduce a lady’s carriage service” with carriages for just female passengers.
Critics would respond that SRT should make trains safer for everyone and ensure that female travellers can book any carriage and know they will be safe from abuse or threats of sexual violence.

Sourced: ttrweekly