The story starts with a harsh economic fact. Laos now has an almost high speed railway, but as a result owes China over 10 billion US dollars in debt, not that far from its 13 billion dollar…

The new line from Boten on the Chinese border down to Vientiane may be fast, if not full high speed, but for the next few years the line coming up from Bangkok in the south will remain much …

I have referred to ‘steam week’ in Kanachanaburi as one of Thailand’s best kept railway secrets. The dates are not published until just a few weeks before the event, communication is i…

In the 1920s the southern line in Thailand connected to Malaya and travel was popular by train between Bangkok and Singapore. In the days before sleeper carriages, passengers would stop in l…

One of the problems of Thai ‘excursion trains’ is guessing when they might take place. Communications from the SRT are usually only in Thai, and can be very close the date they will take…

I took the train to Pak Chong last week, departing from Bangkok’s new Central Terminal station for the very first time. Train 71 is described as an Express, which makes it sound more excit…

This was my first ever ‘excursion’ train trip in Thailand. These are special trains travelling at the weekend to popular tourism destinations. They tend to run on a timetable to allow pe…

The 1st of November has rushed towards me like an express train in my diary, and my latest book is finally published today. Being an author is a strange occupation. The months become years a…

When Hua Lamphong was the station for the privately run Paknam line, the railway workshops were mainly located close by, just across the canal. However, when work began on the current Bangko…

Train 171 is neither a modern long distance train or a local one. It’s somewhere in between – a train with older carriages on an overnight route. In fact it is currently the longest …

Many of you will know that this is going to be a big year for the railway in Thailand. Bang Sue Grand station will finally take over as the Bangkok rail hub for all long distance trains. A m…

It’s the usual procedure at Hua Lamphong, or as I’ve now been reminded by several people to more correctly call it, Bangkok Railway Station (that’s going to really confuse people later…