More About Train TravelPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
Last week I wrote about international train travel and that it was possible to travel one way by train and return by a Thai Airways flight. The same is possible for domestic train travel within Thailand. THAI flies to more than a dozen cities within the Kingdom, many which connect by rail lines.
Thailand has an excellent rail network. Prior to the advent of the railway, less than a hundred years ago, animal-drawn vehicles had virtually been the only means for land transportation in the Kingdom of Siam. At the time, the population was sparse and the country far less modernized. Back at the turn of the 20th century, if you wanted to go to Chiang Mai in the north, you needed three weeks to a month to make the 500-mile trip. The 160 miles from Bangkok to Pak Nam Pho took one day by train, and from there to the next town upriver it was six days by boat, followed by 11 days over caravan trails via Lampang to Chiang Mai.
It was King Chulalongkorn, Rama V, the monarch responsible for abolishing slavery and establishing public schools, who introduced the “iron horse” to Thailand. On his trips abroad, both to Asia and Europe, he had come to know and
appreciate railways. With the threat of European colonization and for economic reasons he envisioned a Thai rail network to unite his country. A railway would be the most efficient way to reach his subjects in remote regions, as well as those
areas rich in teak, tin, rubber and rice.
In March 1891, the king passed a Royal Proclamation authorizing the construction of the first railway line in Siam, leading from Bangkok to Korat (Nakhorn Ratchasima). Six years later, on March 26, 1897, the first 40-mile track from Bangkok to Ayutthaya was completed and opened to traffic.
In the early days, steam engines ruled supreme until 1928, when two diesel locomotives were imported from Switzerland. The end of the use of steam was in sight. However, even today a few wood-burning, steam engines are still in use,
although not in a revenue-earning service.
Thailand has four main trunk lines plus a few minor side routes, totaling 3,000 miles (4,500 kilometers). They handle over a 100 million passengers a year. Of the passenger traffic, 97% use third class, while only three percent go first and second
class, most of them foreigners.
The main lines include the southern route to Hat Yai, where the line splits, the northern fork going to Sungai Golok on the east coast and the southern branch entering Malaysia at Padang Besar. The northern line ends in Chiang Mai. The
northeastern route runs to Korat, where it forks into the lines ending at Nong Khai and Ubon Ratchathani. The eastern line goes to Aranya Phrathet, from where it continues into Cambodia.
The second most popular train route in Thailand is the northern run to Chiang Mai, located in the hills almost 400 miles north of Bangkok. The overnight express leaves Hualamphong Railway Station at six each evening and arrives in Chiang
Mai at 7:40 the next day. The so-called Rapid Train leaves Bangkok daily at 3:45 PM and arrives in Chiang Mai at 6:35 the next morning.There was a time, not so long ago, when passengers on the Chiang Mai Express had to close their compartment windows between Bang Mun Nak and Taphan Hin. It seems that when the train stopped in Bang Mun Nak, monkeys would swoop
down from the trees and climb on top of the compartment roofs. They rode the train to the next stop at Taphan Hin, where they jumped off into the trees only to catch the next train back to Bang Mun Nak. Nobody would have minded them
sneaking a free passage, except that they were stealthy little devils, and when the passengers were asleep, they helped themselves to whatever they could carry off. They were mostly after food, but wrist watches and cameras were sometimes
carried off too.
Service on board the express trains is good, and there are sleepers on both lines. The linen is clean and you can even take a shower if you wish. Compartments are air-conditioned, and thus closed to monkeys.
A line which is seeing more service is the northeastern line to Nong Khai, the Thai border town on the Mekong River, 320 miles from Bangkok and 13 miles (21 kilometers) from Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The overnight express leaves
Bangkok’s Hualamphong Station at 8:30 every evening. If you want to see something of the countryside, you may prefer the morning train that arrives in Nong Khai in the early evening the same day.
In November each year, this northeastern line is fully booked, at least to Surin, for the annual elephant roundup that takes place there. Trains leave Bangkok one day and return the next. It is a popular trip and one of the best recommended train
journeys in Thailand.
An interesting line that’s a favorite with visitors is the run from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi and Nam Tok. The weekend diesel railcar departs Thonburi station, across the river from Bangkok, at 6:30 AM and returns at 7:30 PM. The train stops at Nakhon Pathom for a short sight-seeing tour and then continues to Kanchanaburi, where it crosses the River Kwai and carries on to Nam Tok, from where a minibus goes to the famous Khao Pang Waterfalls.
It was here, at Kanchanaburi, 80 miles west of Bangkok, where, during World War II, the infamous “Bridge over the River Kwai” was built.
The bridge that stands there today is not the same one constructed during the war, which was destroyed by Allied air raids. Nevertheless, tourists still like to walk across it. The graves of thousands of Allied soldiers can also be seen at the
cemetery in Kanchanaburi, along with the JEATH Museum run by Buddhist monks. The museum is no more than a bamboo shed with a thatch roof, an exact replica of the POW camp which had been located on the same spot.
Next week I’d like to tell readers about one more train trip they can take in Thailand––The Train to Mahachai.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERSQ. Dear ROH. I am very interested in your Fly-drive programme. I see that there are many different types. Would it be
possible to rent a car in Bangkok and drive all the way through Malaysia to Singapore? Thank you. Jane Samson, Seattle,
WA,
A. Dear Jane, I am sorry but that is impossible. Both Avis and Budget vehicles are licensed only for Thailand. It is
possible however to drive to Hat Yai, drop your rental car off there, and catch a shuttle bus to Penang and rent a car there
to drive to Johor across from Singapore. Singapore these days has some tough restrictions on vehicles entering the
country. Rental cars cannot enter but once you are in Singapore you can rent a car there. You can leave your car in Johor
and get a bus across the causeway into Singapore. It is a bit more complicated but it is possible. Good travelling. —HS
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail: ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
