The Bangkok Post reports today that trains on the Ubon Ratchathani-Bangkok lines in northeastern Thailand are being “cleaned” and “refurbished” after travelers complained of bed bugs.
Train carriages on northeastern lines are being refurbished at a cost of 17.5 million baht after they were found infested with bed bugs.
State Railway acting governor Nakorn Chantasorn said he ordered the cloth-covered seat cushions in 39 Daewoo diesel train carriages replaced with cushions made of artificial leather.
The refurbishing was prompted by loud complaints of infestations of bed bugs on trains between Bangkok and the northeastern provinces.
“Loud complaints”: this does not sound good!
Work will be completed by the Songkran Festival in April.
I hope the “cleaning” is thorough and suspect a good dose of pesticides may also be needed. Officials should be aware that artificial leather seats will still be prone to infestation, as will the carriages themselves.
I am glad the Thai State Railway is dealing with this and hope that other railways will start to be more alert. French overnight trains were known to be infested last year. We’ve heard informal reports of people encountering them in other trains.
This can happen anywhere.
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I wonder if the reporters who think that bed bugs are no big deal have read this.
Oh no!
Well, I’ve been a bite victim on Thai train car #2513. I am not a backpacker not do I carry insects, so I guess it was another human transferring the bite to my neck while reading my book from Chang Mai on Friday, February 2009.
OH, I forgot to mention the roaches that shared our car at dawn to dusk with an extra two hours for train repair. I have traveled by train on four continents and never encountered such a filthy Thai train. Never will I travel in this country again by this mode. And, certainly, I will try to persuade others to pick another way to get to a Thai destination.