Bangkok Hua Lamphong – Poipet railway line

Bangkok Hua Lamphong-Poipet
Aranyaprathet – Bangkok train
Route length:	260.3 km
Gauge :	1435 mm / 1000 mm
Legend 0.00 Bangkok Hua Lamphong 2.17 Yommarat Northeast Railway 2.64 Uruphong 3.67 Phayathai 4.59 Ratchaprarop Industry and port connection 5.17 Makkasan Makkasan depot 6.98 Asok Khlong Saen Saep 9.50 Khlong Tan 11.14 Sukhumwit 71 15.41 Hua Mak 20.87 Ban Thap Chang 23.94 Soi Wat Lan Bun 26.75 Lat Krabang until 1943: Khlong Thi Song 33.86 Lat Krabang Inland Container Depot 30.33 Phra Chomklao 30.91 Hua Takhe 35.00 Km 35 (under construction, not yet named) 39.50 Khlong Luang 43.43 Khlong Udom Chonlachon since 1985 46.50 Preng 51.02 Khlong Khwaeng Klan 53.99 Khlong Ban Phra 57.10 Bang Toei since 1985 60.99 Chachoengsao Junction 62.87 Paetriu terminus of the Ostbahn until 1925 Chachoengsao Junction – Sattahip railway line 67.14 Bang Khwan 68.63 Wat Ko Chan closed in 1992 74.53 Phrong Akat 79.04 Bang Nam Priao 85.60 Khlong Sip Kao / Khlong 19th Khlong Sip Kao – Kaeng Khoi railway line 89.42 Khlong Yisip Et / Khlong 21 92.67 Mae Nam Nakhon Nayok (210 m) 93.73 Yothaka 101.51 Ban Sang 109.49 Nong Namkhao opened in 1954 115.28 Ban Pak Phli 121.78 Prachin Buri 126.25 Nong Krachap 131.00 Khok Makok 137.65 Prachantakham 143.41 Nong Saeng 146.73 Ban Dong Bang 148.00 Nong Si Wichai opened in 2007 151.85 Ban Phrom Saeng 156.15 Ban Ko Daeng SRT quarry 160.27 Khwae Hanuman (120 m) 161.26 Cabin Buri 165.50 Kabin Kao Industrial connection Ban Bo Thong 172.71 Nong Sang opened in 1984 183.76 Phra Prong (110 m) 190.06 Ban Kaeng 195.87 Sala Lamduan 205.25 Sa Kaeo 216.28 Tha Kasem 223.40 Huai Chot opened in 1954 233.86 Nakhon Watthana 240.32 Ban Pong Khom 245.03 Huai Duea 254.50 Aranyaprathet 259.00 Khlong Luek 260.28 Thai 260.45 Khlong Luek Thailand / Cambodia 261.20 Poipet (recommissioning planned) Phnom Penh – Poipet railway line

The Eastern Railway (Thailand) connects Bangkok with Aranyaprathet and made the connection to the Royal Railway Cambodia . It is operated by the Thai State Railways.

history

prehistory

The Eastern Railway has been discussed since the 1880s. In 1887 received Alfred John Loftus and Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu ( Phraya Chonlayutthayothin / Thai พระยา ชล ยุทธ โยธิน ท ร์ ) (* February 24, 1852 - March 25, 1932), later commander in chief of the Thai naval forces, who participated in the establishment of the first Thai Railway from Bangkok – Samut Prakan was significantly involved, a concession for the route Bangkok– Chachoengsao . However, the financing of the project remained problematic, so that no further steps were taken. Since this problem also occurred for other railway construction projects, Thailand increasingly switched to a policy of state route construction. So in 1901 the measurement of the route was ordered. However, when a revolt broke out in the north of the country shortly afterwards, the state initially concentrated its resources on building the northern railway .

construction

The construction of the Eastern Railway did not begin until 1905. The starting point was the existing Hua Lamphong Station of the North Eastern Railway in Bangkok. A few kilometers north of this terminus , the line turned east from the northeast line. The east runway was built according to the parameters set for the north-east runway. This included in particular the standard gauge of 1435 mm. In early 1908, the line to Chachoengsao was opened. Further construction initially failed due to the cost of a bridge over the Mae Nam Bang Pakong .

business

Chachoengsao reception building

Between 1920 and 1922 the route as the other standard-gauge routes in Thailand was on meter gauge umgespurt . The construction continued in this gauge . This began in 1922 and - in order to avoid crossing the Bang Pakong - the route was extended to the north, later making a large curve to the east, but always staying on the west bank of the river and thus reaching Aranyaprathet. This line extension was opened in two sections in 1925 and 1926. In 1936, the branch of the line from the northeast line, north of Yommarat station, was supplemented by a connecting curve that allows trains to and from the east line to pass through to and from the north without having to turn around in Yommarat or Hua Lamphong station . In 2003 the line between Hua Mak and Chachoengsao was expanded to three tracks, but the rest of the route remained single-track.

Border crossing

Aranyaprathet train station

Station sign

Six kilometers after Aranyaprathet, the route crosses the Thai / Cambodian border in Khlong Luek . With treaties in 1904 and 1907, Thailand had to cede the western provinces of Cambodia to French Indochina . Thailand, allied with the Axis powers during World War II , regained these provinces after the German occupation of France and political support for Japan in 1940. The French had already prepared a route there in the direction of Aranyaprathet, which was now quickly completed and put into operation by the Japanese military. At the end of 1941 it was used by the Japanese military, and since April 10, 1942, Thai civil trains ran here to Battambang . In 1946, however, the French colonial administration regained the area occupied in 1940, whereupon Thailand removed the track between the Thai border station Khlong Luek and the border. It was not until 1954/55 that a contract was concluded on the resumption of border rail traffic. Since April 22, 1955, a train has run twice a week between the Cambodian border station Poipet and Aranyaprathet. Cross-border long-distance traffic did not take place. After diplomatic relations were broken off due to completely different political attitudes, this minimal traffic was discontinued on November 25, 1958, resumed on February 27, 1959 and, after another break in diplomatic relations, on October 23, 1961, four days later. Thailand then dismantled the track leading to the border again. It was not until November 2, 1970 that traffic was resumed with two to three trains a week, but was interrupted again on July 2, 1974 when a civil war began in Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge took over power. The Khmer Rouge then dismantled the track on the Cambodian side of the border.

New embankment with siding in Khlong Luek, the bridge to Poipet can be seen at the back on the right.

The rails east of Aranyaprathet have not been used since 1994. At the beginning of 2016, the entire embankment with rails from Aranyaprathet to and across the border was renewed. On the Cambodian side, the line ends on the bridge abutment; further construction would require the demolition of the lucrative casinos built there.

New railway bridge seen from the Cambodian Poipet .

The restart of the Cambodian railway line Phnom Penh – Poipet is planned.

traffic

Two pairs of trains run daily from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet, all of them in 3rd class . In Bangkok they use the Hua Lamphong train station .

literature

• BR Whyte: The Railway Atlas of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia . White Lotus Co Ltd, Bangkok 2010, ISBN 978-974-480-157-9

Individual evidence

1. ^ Information from Whyte: The Railway Atlas , p. 37ff; Card 10.
2. ↑ On his person see: NN: Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu: The Admiral Who Went Ashore .
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Whyte: The Railway Atlas of Thailand , p. 34.
4. ^ ^{A b} Whyte: The Railway Atlas of Thailand , p. 35.
5. ^ Whyte: The Railway Atlas of Thailand , p. 36.
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Whyte: The Railway Atlas of Thailand , p. 37.
7. ^ Whyte: The Railway Atlas of Thailand , pp. 35, 37.
8. ↑ http://www.tollroyalrailway.com/?page=front&lg=en
9. ↑ Information from: The Man in Seat 61: Train Travel in Thailand .