Bid to stop train sex attacks struggles to stay on track
Female-only carriages and an alcohol ban were supposed to prevent assaults on the railways, but public transport is still far from safe for women
Sexual assault is an all-too-common reality for women across the country. The Public Health Ministry estimates there are almost 90 cases a day, or more than 30,000 incidents each year. Two-thirds of all rapes are committed by someone known to the victim. The number of assaults that take place on trains is relatively small. But a string of highprofile attacks over the past 15 years has stirred public outrage, emphasising how victims can fall prey to attackers when they least expect.
The chilling nature of assaults on board trains is undeniable. Incidents often occur at night as victims sleep. Escape from a moving carriage is near impossible, while train staff themselves were implicated in cases last month, last year and in 2001.
In the latest attack on Sept 23, a 15-yearold girl in Chumphon province said she was assaulted by a State Railway of Thailand ticket officer as she travelled from school to her home in Sawee district, 45 minutes away.
“The girl told police that she was harassed by an SRT officer,” said Pol Lt Col Sayan Chantamas, Sawee police chief investigator.
“She said he told her to move to an empty carriage because it would be easier for her to disembark the train. The girl felt uneasy, so was using the Line application to send messages to her father.
“The officer then sat down next to her, took her phone and groped her.”
The suspect in the case was identified as a 53-year-old Sumeth Thongraipop. He turned himself in two weeks ago, denying the accusations and vowing to fight the case in court.
Pol Lt Col Sayan said the man is not a flight risk and has been instructed to appear before investigators next month.
But Supensri Pungkoksung, an activist from the Gender Equality Promotion Centre, warned the incident is yet another reminder that little has changed since prominent railway attacks in 2001 and last year.
A CALL FOR HELP
When women are sexually assaulted on trains, reporting the crime is difficult for several reasons.
The Railway Police Division’s website lists a phone number for its complaints centre. After calling that number, Spectrum is told sexual harassment cannot be reported by phone, and a complaint must be filed at the local police station closest to where the assault took place.
“But the website says this is the complaint centre doesn’t it?”
“You cannot make an i ncident report here. This is a radio centre,” the male officer replied abruptly.
Ms Supensri met Kwan in 2001, not long after she was raped on a train. “It was only a few months after she had been sexually assaulted and she cried uncontrollably for the whole half an hour we were together,” Ms Supensri said.
Ms Kwan, then 31, had flown to Hat Yai in Songkhla province on a business trip. Asked to
return to Bangkok urgently and unable to get a flight, she opted for the sleeper train. The assault took place in her sleeping quarters, somewhere in Chumphon province.
The rapist was a train employee working in her carriage.
Once Ms Kwan reached Bangkok, she went to Noppawong station — the Bangkok headquarters for the Railway Police Division. But she was told officers couldn’t accept her crime report since the incident took place in a southern province.
She then took the case to the National Police Headquarters and the media, sparking public outcry. The culprit served a nine-year jail sentence for rape, but it was only last November, 13 years after the incident, that Ms Kwan won compensation from the SRT.
SHOCKING CRIME
The chilling rape and murder of 13-year-old Nong Kaem last year reignited fury over the safety of women on trains.
Wanchai Saengkhao, a 22-year-old SRT employee, raped the Mathayom 2 student, who was asleep in her berth, and threw her out of the carriage. She was found dead by the tracks on the morning of July 6 last year.
Wanchai was convicted of rape and murder. The Appeals Court upheld his death sentence last month.
Pornsit Chusri, head of the SRT’s Passenger Traffic Division, said the company started looking for ways to protect women on trains in 2001, after Ms Kwan’s attack.
The Lady Car project was introduced in response to the incident, with new carriages on night trains exclusively for women and children. But the scheme was scrapped several months later because it was unpopular with passengers and ran at a loss.
“We found passengers usually travelled with family members of both sexes and prefer mixed carriages,” he said.
However, Nong Kaem’s killing changed the SRT’s mind.
“We decided to re-initiate the project permanently on four routes: Bangkok-Chiang Mai, Bangkok-Sungai Kolok, Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani and Bangkok-Nong Khai,” Mr Pornsit said.
The SRT has also now banned the sale and consumption of alcohol on all its routes, since Wanchai was drunk when he attacked Nong Kaem.
SECURITY CHECK
Mr Pornsit said drivers, technicians and sleeper carriage staff are employed directly by the SRT, while onboard cleaners and cooks are supplied through contractors. In all, there are more than 20,000 SRT officers nationwide. The sleeper carriage section makes up a relatively small proportion, with 200 male and 20 female staff.
Each sleeper carriage, which accommodates 40 passengers, has its own member of staff who must lock the doors between the hours of 10pm and 5am. Lights remain on all night. During those hours, no one can go in or out of the carriage without the knowledge of staff.
The SRT installed CCTV cameras in 10 Lady Car carriages last year. It will expand the cameras to every sleeper carriage by the end of this year.
Mr Pornsit said the suspect in last month’s Chumphon assault has been suspended while a committee looks into the matter. The man will not receive any SRT assistance with finding a lawyer.
Mr Pornsit denied the SRT is slow to punish staff accused of sexual harassment, saying the organisation must follow set disciplinary procedures. Staff can face verbal warnings, suspensions or dismissal.
Mr Pornsit said Nong Kaem’s killing made the SRT realise it must conduct thorough background checks on recruits. They have also been running extra training sessions to instil a sense of service and respect in staff.
“After Nong Kaem, many male staff members said female passengers were giving them strange looks as if they no longer trusted them. Both sides found it difficult,” he said.
ON THE PLATFORM
Little seems to have changed at Hua Lamphong train station since 1916 when it first opened. The SRT’s only international route, from Bangkok to Butterworth in Malaysia, is getting ready to depart at 3pm with a few Thai passengers and some foreign backpackers on board.
“Six months after Nong Kaem, passenger numbers were considerably lower,” Mr Pornsit said.
“But the number slowly went back up, because most passengers are frequent train users or daily commuters.
“Foreigners account for about 5% of our 100,000 passengers every day, so the SRT caters mostly to Thais, who expect us to provide a reliable and safe transport service.”
Thirty-year-old nurse Chanika Banpachart said she was unfazed by the prospect of violence as she prepared to travel overnight from Bangkok to Si Sa Ket.
“I will be alone for the next eight hours but I selected an express train so I feel it should be safer,” she said.
“I try not to wear provocative clothing and keep my luggage near me at all time. And some of the staff I’ve met in the sleeper carriages have been really, really good.”
Ampha Chomson, a 29-year-old waitress, had just arrived in Bangkok from Yala province in the South. Asked why she took the train, she said, “It is safer. There are no road accidents like you get with buses.”
Ms Ampha travelled with a male companion this time. When she travels alone, she prefers to sleep near female passengers. “If one of the bunk-bed compartments is occupied by a man and a woman, I will ask the man to swap with me so I can go next to the woman,” she said.
As Spectrum walked through the third-class carriage of a train bound for Kabin Buri, a man who is clearly drunk was settling in for the trip. “It’s free to ride in this carriage, so we can’t prevent anyone from getting on,” Mr Pornsit said.
POLICING THE TRAINS
Pol Lt Col Songklod Pattanawaraporn, chief investigator at Noppawong station, said officers get about 10-20 reports of thefts every month. But sexual harassment cases are not a part of their day-to-day work, because the location of the attack has to be considered.
“If the victim is aware of where the rape or harassment took place, they can file a report at the local police station,” he said. “If they are not, they can report the case at Noppawong station.”
Aside from the most high-profile incidents, rape cases are rarely dealt with at the station, he said.
There are 30 local railway police stations across Thailand, with more than 700 personnel in charge of investigating incidents that take place in their areas. All railway police come under the command of the Central Investigation Bureau.
“Noppawong station’s jurisdiction covers parts of Bangkok,” Pol Lt Col Songklod said. “We deal with criminal cases that occur on trains and within train station premises.”
On some routes, railway police are responsible for checking trains on an hourly basis, or as they stop at stations, Mr Pornsit said.
The crimes they fight are varied; for example passengers have been drugged by thieves posing as food sellers in the past.
Mr Pornsit said the SRT and railway police work together on investigations in a range of cases, which normally take about 45 days to conclude. Complicated sexual harassment cases can take much longer.
VICTIM BLAMING
When it comes to fighting sexual harassment cases in court, Ms Supensri said the victim is always at an automatic disadvantage.
“The culprit in Ms Kwan’s case tried to justify his actions by saying she had allowed him to give her a foot massage‚” she said. “This reflects our male-dominated society’s expectation of how women should behave in relation to men.”
Ms Supensri said three decades of working with women has taught her that sexual assaults take place regardless of circumstances or the behaviour of victims.
“Rape does not have anything to do with the victim, or the place, or the time. It does not matter how the victim looks or dresses‚” she said. “It can happen in a tight space and take less than five minutes.”
She believes the SRT must act more quickly and decisively to deal with attacks on trains and in stations. “The SRT should not haggle over compensation settlements with victims of sexual harassment, but should exercise swift disciplinary measures on staff to prevent incidents being repeated,” she said.
The longer disciplinary proceedings drag on, the more victims endure psychological, physical, social and economic problems, she said, adding that Ms Kwan has never recovered from the shame and fear she experienced throughout her 13-year legal battle.
The compensation in the case cannot make up for the fact her life was destroyed. “After the incident in 2001, Ms Kwan was suspended from work because her company said its reputation had been damaged,” Ms Supensri said.
If things are going to get better for victims of assault, the SRT and police must improve the first point of contact for reporting crimes, she said, adding that many women are questioned by officials in a way that shifts the blame onto them.
“Some rape victims report to a police station in the middle of the night because they do not want to be seen,” Ms Supensri said. “I’ve had other cases where victims file reports in the daytime, only to end up being surrounded by just about everyone in the station. Shame, fear and embarrassment have silenced a lot of people.”
Rape does not have anything to do with the victim, or the place, or the time SUPENSRI PUNGKOKSUNG ACTIVIST