A Japanese tourist, who shared photos of a Kiha-183 series train, donated to Thailand by Japan, passing through piles of garbage in the Phaya Thai area, thanked the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) for their “quick response” in cleaning the site.

The series of photos the tourist posted on his twitter account, @tabinezumiworld, on July 30, went viral after being shared on the ThailandFootpath Facebook page, which has more than 300,000 followers. The post attracted negative comments like “What a shame! Now the world can see.”

Two days after the photos were uploaded, Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt visited the area and ordered a clean-up.

He said the garbage along the railway tracks was the result of the demolition of about 100 houses, which had been built illegally adjacent to the tracks. The demolition took place last month, to pave the way for the construction of the Don Mueang-Suvarnabhumi-U-Tapao high-speed train route, but the rubbish had been left there, according to Chadchart.

On Tuesday, the SRT’s Facebook page featured photos of about 30 workers clearing the rubbish from along the rail tracks and of the area once the work was done.

For the longer term, the SRT is to erect fences along the tracks and will hold discussions with communities near the area to prevent future trespassing or dumping of rubbishing.

The same Japanese netizen shared SRT’s photos and wrote in both Japanese and Thai, “Special thanks for your quick response, SRT.”

“There are still several more problems, but I believe that we can solve them one by one,” he wrote.

His latest twitter story showed that he was in Ubon Ratchathani province witnessing popular candle festival that showed carved candle sculptures lining up in parades.

by Marisa Chimprabha