In January, Weathernews Inc. launched an operational Go/No-Go decision support service “Go or NG Decision Support” for rail operator State Railway of Thailand. The operator became the first railway in Southeast Asia to make use of weather information. Thailand also becomes the second overseas region (after a Taiwanese rail company) to adopt our Railway Weather Service.
Looking ahead, in addition to Thailand, we aim to expand our Railway Weather Service to numerous Southeast Asian countries and support safe rail operations, such as service suspensions and restrictions in light of weather-related risks

Supporting safe train operations on each line

Until now, the State Railway of Thailand had no operational control standards in response to weather conditions such as those used in Japanese railways, so decisions to suspend or restrict services due to potential natural disasters were very difficult. Especially during Thailand’s monsoon season, which runs from June to October, typhoons, torrential rain, and thunderstorms often cause flooding and landslides. Severe weather conditions are sometimes identified only after a natural disaster has occurred, so in many cases, it was difficult to achieve safe and stable rail operations using conventional methods.

The Railway Weather Service we are launching for the State Railway of Thailand has already been adopted by roughly 80% of major rail operators in Japan. We support decisions on the timing of planned service suspension/resumption and the evacuation of rail vehicles taking weather-related risks into account. Our operational Go/No-Go decision support service “Go or NG Decision Support,” launched in January, will provide rainfall data from monitoring equipment installed along the rail lines as well as full weather predictions. This service will be based on our extensive experience in supporting Japanese rail operators and Thai airline companies and our track record in handling global weather information. Going forward, through analysis and application of rainfall data for each rail route, we will evaluate optimal reference values for safe rail operations and issue an alert if rainfall data exceeds the limit and there is a risk of flooding or landslides. In this way, Weathernews will provide vital support for making advance decisions for operational railway planning.

*About the State Railway of Thailand (SRT)
With headquarters in Bangkok. SRT is the state-run rail operator in the Kingdom of Thailand. Starting from Bangkok, the network connects all regional cities, with a total track length of approximately 4,000 km.

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