Sales of alcohol banned on State Railway after the rape and murder of a 13 year old girl

After the vicious rape and murder of a 13 year old girl on Thailand’s state railway that the perpetrator blamed on his consumption of drugs and alcohol, the State Railway has taken the decision to impose a ban on alcohol sales and drink on all trains. SRT Governor Praphat Chongsa-nguan told reporters that the legal department had been instructed to come up with a regulation to ban the sale of alcoholic drinks on Tuesday. He went on to say that passengers can bring their own alcoholic drinks on board however if they are seen drinking during their journey they will be invited to leave the train and that the SRT would be setting up background checks to investigate all of the staff and employees, with a strong focus on temporary employees to establish any criminal history.

It has been disclosed that the suspect who confessed to killing and raping the 13 year old girl on the sleeper train from Surat Thani to Bangkok had a history of drug peddling that was unbeknown to the SRT. The suspect had been recently promoted from a temporary member of staff to a full time member.

Mr. Praphat said that the SRT had resorted to hiring temporary employees after a staff shortage. They used to have 24,000 staff members but that had recently dropped to only 11,000.

Commenting on calls for his resignation following the rape and murder the SRT governor has questioned whether this would help solve the problem, he has also said that the SRT may introduce a lady’s carriage service for female passengers only.

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