28.07.09 Stalemate derails SRT plans
Committee to decide railway restructuring
The future of the State Railway of Thailand
rests with Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart after the final
round of negotiations with its powerful union failed to make any
headway.
The main stumbling block between SRT executives and union leaders is
the management model for the Airport Rail Link project connecting the
city to Suvarnabhumi airport.
The link, due to start on Dec 5, is seen as the most promising aspect of the SRT's future.
The cabinet last month agreed to the restructuring of the SRT but only if the plan was backed by the union.
It would see the SRT separated into two subsidiary firms handling
asset management and services. The airport link would be under the
service firm.
While existing SRT staff would be responsible for passenger and
freight services under the proposed new structure, the SRT plans to
recruit new staff to operate the airport link.
The SRT board yesterday held firm on the plan, saying it would offer better management and more efficiency.
The labour union rejected the plan, saying the airport link should
be run as a business unit within the SRT instead of under a new
subsidiary.
SRT governor Yutthana Thapcharoen said no more talks would be held with the union as it was pointless.
The union has accused the SRT of having a hidden agenda with future
plans to privatise profit-making businesses. SRT executives have denied
the suggestion.
The SRT will present its position and the union's argument to a committee chaired by Maj Gen Sanan for a decision.
Despite the conflict between the executives and the union, the SRT
governor was confident the launch of the new railways system would go
ahead.
SRT union leader Sawit Kaewwan said the union wanted the Airport
Rail Link operators to come under the SRT because that would provide an
assurance that business units would not be privatised in the future.
Mr Sawit insisted the union's resistance to the SRT plan to set up subsidiaries would not delay the launch of the system.
He did not say what the union would do if its proposal was rejected by the Sanan panel.
Its strike in late June in opposition to the restructuring left
200,000 passengers stranded and caused the SRT 16 million baht in
losses.
The Finance Ministry yesterday warned the labour union that more strikes could badly hurt the SRT.
Passengers would become frustrated and switch to other transport
services, said Areepong Bhoocha-oom, the director-general of the
ministry's State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo).
Mr Areepong said the railway system made up just 2% of the country's available transport services.
Therefore if SRT staff went on prolonged strike, the service could
lose out to other kinds of services. Eventually, the SRT would lose
more of its already small number of customers, he said.
The Sepo chief said the SRT restructuring must go ahead. Under the
restructuring plan, the government would invest about 195 billion baht
in the enterprise's business operations from 2010 to 2014. It expects
to give the state railway at least 40 billion baht a year.
The investment is in the national interest as Thailand needs to improve its rail transport facilities, Mr Areepong said.
"I hope that SRT staff will agree with the investment plan. It's
because the SRT's performance over the past 10 years has clearly proved
to be ineffective," he said.
The country could no longer afford to delay the upgrading of the SRT, Mr Areepong said. Source: Bangkok Post, 28.07.09
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/21032/stalemate-derails-srt-plans
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