Thai Railways - Train Travel Blog for Thailand on Rails

All Lines to South and North are fully operational

admin — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 08:49:11 +0000

All Rail lines operated by Thai Railways are back in service and fully operational.

All Post at an earlier time shall be dismissed and ignored.

For futher details please call

Tel. 0-2223-3762, 0-2224-7788, 0-2225-0300 Ext. 5100

For International Callers please use prefix 66 and delete the first . . . → Read More: All Lines to South and North are fully operational

Rail Lines heading to South Suspended

admin — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 21:08:32 +0000

The Rail Lines to the South ( Southern Line ) is currently suspended.

Lines to the North and other lines are still in full operation.

Track is dry . . . → Read More: Rail Lines heading to South Suspended

Thai Railways Online Booking temporarily suspended

admin — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 06:43:01 +0000

The Online Booking System of Thai Railways is currently temporarily suspended. Bookings can be only made in person and on the phone via the central No.

1690 (within Thailand) or

Advance Booking Office, Bangkok Station (Hua Lampong) Tel. 0-2223-3762, 0-2224-7788, 0-2225-0300 Ext. 5100 Fax: 0-2225-6068, 0-2226-3656

International Calls + 66 2 223 3762 . . . → Read More: Thai Railways Online Booking temporarily suspended

Thai Railways – Train Travel Postbag

admin — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 21:22:16 +0000

Dear Thai Railways Guest and Explorer,

some of you might say or think the following:

I would like to contribute or make my voice heard but I do not like to give away my email address or any other private data.
Well we do truly understand and therefore we give you the option to leave a message, drop a comment or simply tell us your opinion by using our Contact Form and fill in any bogy email address and name.
The Postbag works like in every paperback magazine where you may send in your letter and either stay anonymous, use a fancy identity or your real name, but nothing else.

As with every Postbag, we retain the right to publish or if needed edit your letter according to our policy of clean and polite messaging. Nevertheless we do encourage you to be critical and straightforward and this shall be no reason that we refuse publishing.
We have intentionally placed the link pretty visible because we will make every effort to display the correct and objective image of train services in the Kingdom of Thailand (Siam)

In anticipation of your contribution we shall thank you for all your efforts and time you made to add your voice to the Postbag.

Your ThaiRailways.com Team

As Single Father on board of Thai Railways

admin — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:25:05 +0000

heading to . . . → Read More: As Single Father on board of Thai Railways

Transfers to and from Thai Railways Stations

admin — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:42:45 +0000

For transfers to and from stations to your final destination like a pier, directly to the hotel or a dedicated location we can recommend the transfer service of KRABI.com. They offer a very reliable and timely service. Their service is pretty much specialized for the South of Thailand in fact from Hua Hin ( Cha-am) to Hat Yai or even beyond to Penang ( Butterworth)
We have compared their prices and they are sometimes up to 60% cheaper than other transfer agencies, they do not have a middle men, therefore can offer these great prices.

As for their record they are in operation since 2003 and have very good vehicles especially for Phuket, Krabi, Koh Lanta and Trang their fleet is very new and they do also have luxury sedans like the Toyota Camry which is sometimes quite useful if you are 3 person or have more luggage as usual. Most operators take only 2 adults on board of a sedan, so if ordering a luxury sedan you may travel with 3 adults or 2 adults and a child older than 12 years. It is less expensive and if you are travelling with a small group who wants to sit in a big van it is less comfortable and communication is not the same.
Also they have stored on every sedan and van a baby seat, which is not common.

Last not least to mention their vans, we call them the supervans are very spacy and comfortable for 10 adult passengers. Some of the supervans are equipped with DVD players and a TV screen, so if you have children or even you on a longer trip can watch you own movies if taken on the journey.

The direct link to the transfer page is http://www.krabi.com/book/taxi
and the email address is taxi@krabi.com

As we said they are specialized in the South however they can also arrange transfer from for example
Bangkok Airport onwards. We recently did that and saved several hundred baht just to a Bangkok hotel and on another occasion from the airport to Koh Samui ( Donsak Pier ) where we saved more than a thousand Baht.

They do not offer these routes officially on their booking page but we did it by sending an inquiry by mail.

We look out for a reliable provider in the North and the rest of Thailand and will post it on th Blog.

Good Luck

Your Thai Railways.com Team

Buying food on and off the train

admin — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 08:04:14 +0000

Buying Food on a train adventure is pretty easy even you have not had sufficient time or feeling to take food with you. In fact on almost every bigger train station or city you are passing by there will be a bunch of vendors jumping on the train selling cold cuts or sometimes ready meals
It must not be necessarily a big town, it also depends on the time of stopover at the station. But one thing for sure if the train stops you will find foodand water on the station a few meters from the track. It is not like in Western cities where you would have to walk half a mile to find some kiosk.
But be careful when jumping off the train for food. Thai people are never in a hurry so you could miss the train because the lady is inviting you to some “interesting conversation”. You rather always have an eye on the officials who are present close to the train during the stop. You might be lucky and meet a train official who speaks some broken English and ask for the duration of stop. But use a short sentence and basic English when asking !!

Food from vendors.

Mostly rice with beef, or fried rice with chicken in a styropor box with the typical Thai spicies and herbs along it. It is usually the ever present fish sauce as salt replacement with some chili. Sometimes you will get also Fried Chicken Wings or legs. If you are lucky you will meet some guys who are selling mangos and bananas. D

Prices:

In a range of 40 to 60 Baht but more on the lower side. A bottle of water 500ml is usually 10 to 15 Baht.

Last Option Dining Car:

Most trains with a so called “luxury class” or the ones which are called ‘Express” and one would not believe

”Super Express” are equipped with a dining car. But do not get things wrong and think about dining car in Western terms. The Dining Car in a Thai train is without air condition. The windows are always open which is very exciting.
It is quite loud due to the bumps and sometimes very busy, especially with Thai traders and salesmen. Nevertheless
it is a worthwile thing to do. Last not least you will be many hours in this train so some change is really refreshing. You may almost order anything from the Thai kitchen but they prefer to sell their prepared 3 different style menus.

Dining Car Food Prices:

The Menus including one hot meal, coffe or tea and some fruits range from 120 to 180 Thai Baht.
The Breakfast Menu is usually 60 to 100 Baht.

If you would rather have some beer or other drinks we recommend to order a la carte which is a bit more expensive but you can be sure that you will get very fresh food, so it might be worth it.

Opening Hours:

Not really fixed like everything in Thailand but usually 30 minutes to one hour after the train leaves until 11.00 p.m.

TIP : (if everything goes wrong )

Now it could happen that you are late and there is just no more seat available in the car and it also does not look that the situation will change. Then about 60 Minutes to 90 minutes after the train leaves some waitresses from the dining car are passing by every compartment to pick up orders. But these orders are limited to their menu selection.
The ladys will bring you the food to your seat usually about 15 minutes to 20 minutes later. So look out for the ladies. We need to mention that this is a sure thing if you take an overnight train. They always pass by at around 6.00 p.m.

Common Problems encountered on Train Trips

admin — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 01:57:30 +0000

As with any mode of travel, there may be a few things that disagree with individual travelers. Listed below are some common problems and suggestions on how to deal with them.

The sun – There’s nothing really you can do about the afternoon sun if you are unlucky enough to be seated on the ‘sunny side of the train’. The heat radiating into the windows is intense. You can always rig a shade if you have a sarong handy, but it can get rather sauna-like in the afternoon. Some of the trains have a ‘Metal Blind’ that can be pulled down, but the sun heats up the metal and makes it worse.

How it works – Postbag Thai Railways

admin — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 02:30:25 +0000

Dear Thai Railways Guest and Explorer,

some of you might say or think the following:

In anticipation of your contribution we shall thank you for all your efforts and time you made to add your voice to the Postbag.

Your ThaiRailways.com Team