A combined road/rail bridge could put an end to Samui Airport’s stranglehold on the island. Numerous new railway proposals in Thailand have been made over the years. Some of them are now being built (such as the railway to Chiang Rai), while some of them are too radical to be true (such as this Hanoi – Luang […]
Railways
Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal (Bang Sue Grand Station)
Bang Sue Grand Station (officially known as Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal) is the new central railway station of Bangkok. The station will be the terminus for all current long-distance rail services and future high-speed railways, and through-trains for the SRT commuter lines and 3-airport HSR line. It is also connected to the mass transit […]
Pattaya Station Redevelopment: High-speed railway and mixed-use project
Pattaya Station and the surrounding area will be redeveloped as part of the High-Speed Rail Linking Three Airports Project. Pattaya Station is on the Ban Phlu Ta Luang Main Line of the Eastern Line. The Ban Phlu Ta Luang Main Line is a metre-gauge railway operated with diesel locomotives, while the high-speed railway will be […]
Thoughts on Thai trains while waiting for the Chiang Mai-Bangkok airlift
The Bangkok-Chiang Mai air route flourishes, while there is no plan for the slow Northern Line train. The Bangkok-Chiang Mai air route is the second busiest in Thailand (after Bangkok-Phuket). I’ve flown many times between these two cities, which may surprise some people who pick me as a rail nerd. I’m an efficient transport nerd, […]
Current and proposed railways in Cambodia
Cambodia currently operates two railway lines from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville and Poipet. The lines are single-track metre-gauge railways using diesel locomotives. The services are among the slowest in Southeast Asia, but if the government goes ahead with its modernisation plan it may be among the fastest. There are plans to upgrade the two current […]
Phnom Penh – Siem Reap Railway
The Phnom Penh – Siem Reap Railway is a proposed new railway connecting the capital of Cambodia to the tourism hotspot of Siem Reap (the city near Angkor). The railway is one of a number of railways that have been proposed in Cambodia, including another railway that would connect Siem Reap to Poipet (and thus […]
PNR South Long Haul: Rebuilding the PNR South Main Line (Bicol Express) in Luzon
The PNR South Long Haul (PNR Bicol) is a project to reconstruct the railway in Southern Luzon in the Philippines. The line will start at Banlic station in Calamba, Laguna and it will terminate at Daraga, Albay. The line will be 565 km in length with 35 stations, and passenger trains will travel at a […]
Southeast Asia Railways Report – 2022 edition
This is an overview of Southeast Asia railway projects under construction or that have been in the news over the last year. Projects that are planned but haven’t made any progress over the last year are not mentioned. There is an ongoing list of future projects on the railways page. This list is for national […]
Trans-Sumatra Railway
The Trans-Sumatra Railway is a proposed railway line in Sumatra that would run from Aceh in the north to Lampung in the south. The total length would be over 2,000 kilometres, and it would connect major cities and ports of Sumatra. President Joko Widodo announced the plan for the Trans-Sumatra Railway in December 2014, and […]
Laos-China Railway review – observations while riding the train from Vientiane to Boten
The Laos-China Railway opened in December 2021, and I would have tried to get a ticket on the inaugural trip had the borders been open. I was in Thailand when Laos reopened on the 9th of May, so I took the opportunity to visit shortly thereafter. I have written a Laos-China Railway travel guide on […]
