Thonburi – Samut Songkhram railway line

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Thonburi – Samut Songkhram railway line
Route length: 64.7 km
Gauge : 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Legend
   
 Chao Phraya passenger ferry
   
 -1.91 Khlong San opened in 1905
   
 0.00 Wongwian Yai
Station, station
 1.78 TalatPhlu opened in 1905
Station, station
 3.35 Khlong Ton Sai
Station, station
 4.13 Chom Thong
Station, station
 5.76 Wat Sai
Station, station
 7.15 Wat Sing
Station, station
 9.76 Bang Bon opened in 1905 as Ban Khun Thian?
Station, station
 10.23 Kan Kheha
Station, station
 10.53 Rank Sakae
Station, station
 14.25 Pho rank opened in 1905
Station, station
 15.83 Sam Yaek
Station, station
 17.29 Phrom Daen
   
 18.76 Thung Si Thong
Station, station
 19.97 Bang Nam Chuet
Station, station
 22.99 Khok Khwai opened in 1905
Station, station
 26.76 Ban Khom opened in 1905
Station, station
 29.76 Khlong Chak opened in 1905
End station - end of the line
 31.22 Mahachai (Samut Sakhon) opened in 1905
   
 Tha Chin passenger ferry
End station - start of the route
 0.00 Ban Laem
Station, station
 0.84 Tha Chalom
Station, station
 3.71 Ban Chi Phakhao
   
 5.41 Khlong Nok Lek
Station, station
 6.72 Bang Si Khot
Station, station
 8.68 Bang Krachao
Station, station
 10.72 Ban Bo
Station, station
 13.64 Bang Thorat
Station, station
 15.60 Ban Kalong
Station, station
 17.76 Ban Na Khwang
Station, station
 19.79 Ban Na Khok
Station, station
 23.35 Khet Mueang
Station, station
 27.48 Lat Yai
Station, station
 29.98 Bang Krabun
End station - end of the line
 33.57 Maeklong ( Samut Songkhram )
   
 Mae Klong

The Thonburi – Samut Songkhram railway , also known as the Mae Klong Railway ( Thai ทาง รถไฟ สาย แม่ กลอง ), serves suburban traffic in the southwest of Bangkok .

Geographical location

The route consists of two island companies that are connected by a passenger ferry. The section begins in the Wongwian Yai station in Thonburi , on the western bank of the Chao Phraya , and leads southwest to the bank of the Tha Chin . Travelers have to cross it by ferry. On the other bank, the route continues southwest to Samut Songkhram on the bank of Mae Klong .

history

Since the 1880s, the Siamese government granted various private consortia concessions to build railways. However, these consortia often turned out to be speculative companies that never even got as far as the start of construction on the route they were licensed to use. For the first time with the railway line Bangkok – Samut Prakan , which opened in 1893, such a private consortium was able to successfully carry out such a project - albeit with considerable financial support from King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V) . The Thonburi – Samut Songkhram railway was then the second case in which this succeeded. The two sections were initially planned and built by different companies, but both were merged immediately after the commissioning of both sections.

Section Thonburi - Samut Sakhon

This section is also called the Thachin Railway or Mahachai Railway . In 1896, Luiz Maria Xavier / Bhasa Priwat (1840-1902) from a family of Portuguese origin who had been living in Thailand for a long time and was Deputy Minister of Finance at the time, applied for a concession for this section . Because he had difficulty proving viable funding for the project, it took until May 17, 1901, before he was granted a 40-year concession. After the applicant's death in 1902, his son, Celestino Maria Xavier / Phraya Phiphatkhosa (1863–1922), temporarily Deputy Foreign Minister of the country, continued the project. In addition, a company was founded in 1902, the Tanchin Railway Ltd. Co. Its founding directors were all foreigners, including the Danish engineer Aage Westenholz (1859–1935), uncle of the writer Karen Blixen , and Louis du Plessis de Richelieu, son of Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu ( Phraya Chonlayutthayothin / Thai พระยา ชล ยุทธ โยธิน ท ร์ ), who built Thailand's first railway on the Bangkok – Samut Prakan line. The Tanchin Railway Ltd. Co. bought the Phraya Phiphatkhosa concession in late 1902.

The company succeeded in building the 33 km long line in meter gauge . On January 4, 1904, Crown Prince Vajiravudh (later as King: Rama VI.) Opened the route. Initially, three pairs of trains ran daily, and in 1909 four pairs of trains, with a speed of up to 45 km / h. The travel time over the route was 70-75 minutes.

Section BanLaem – Samut Songkhram

Then in 1904 Phraya Waiwut Wisetrit applied for the concession to build a railway line from the Tha Chin to Samut Songkhram opposite the terminus of the line . On June 10, 1905, he received the concession, which was also designed for 40 years. He sold this on August 2, 1905 to Maeklong Railway Co. Ltd., which was only founded on July 29, 1905 . 60% of its capital was in the hands of foreign shareholders, who also hold large shares in Tanchin Railway Ltd. Co. held, 40% were with two princes of the royal house and five other nobles.

On July 12, 1907, the line was opened. There were initially three pairs of trains a day and a ferry made the connection to and from the route to Thonburi. The two companies decided to merge on the day they opened .

United Railway

Interior of the "Maeklong Railway"

The new company also operated under the name Maeklong Railway Co. Ltd. and in 1908 received retrospective royal approval of the merger.

In 1926 and 1927, the eastern part of the line between the Khlon San and Wat Singh stations was electrified in two stages and then used by trams . On May 8, 1946, after the concessions had expired, the line was bought by the Thai state for 2,000,000 Bath , initially operated separately, subordinated to the Thai State Railways in 1952 and finally incorporated into it in 1955. At the end of 1959, the entire route was converted to diesel operation. In 1961, the eastern terminus of the line, Khlon San , had to give way to increasing car traffic. The reception building was used for a bus station . The beginning of the route was withdrawn to Wongwian Yai station .

Planning

Since the 1960s, there have been repeated considerations to combine island operation with the network of the state railway; however, these were never implemented.

There were also considerations to connect the two sections of the route, to lead further west and to connect them there with the southern runway . Both failed because of the high cost of a bridge or tunnel to cross the Tha Chin and / or the Mae Klong .

In its current state, the operation of the line seems a bit anachronistic, so that there have been considerations to shut it down . In any case, it would have to be technically modernized in order to continue to meet the growing demands of the Bangkok metropolitan region on public transport in the future.

Another point of view is to want to maintain the condition and thus preserve the market and its jobs as an attraction and tourist magnet, as there have only been minor abrasions so far.

traffic

The market on the train tracks in Samut Songkhram
The market on the tracks in Samut Sakhon

On the section between Bangkok and Mahachai, trains run approximately every hour all day. Beyond the ferry, between Ban Laem and Samut Songkhram , there are three daily connections. The trains only run in 3rd class .

In Samut Songkhram, a market has developed on the railway line. The so-called “Talat Rom Hoop” market (Thai: ตลาด ร่ม หุบ), in German roughly “Umbrella-fold-away” market, named after the market stalls that are folded away and rebuilt with every approaching train, is one of the largest Seafood markets in Thailand. There is a similar market to the right and left of the tracks at the Mahachai terminus in Samut Sakhon.

From May 2015 to April 2016, the southwestern part of the route from Ban Laem to Samut Songkhram was completely closed for renovation work. At that time, all traffic was still handled with Japanese SRT class NKF diesel multiple units from the 1980s.

See also

literature

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

Web links

Commons : Maeklong Railway  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information from Whyte: The Railway Atlas. P. 33f.
  2. ^ Whyte: The Railway Atlas. Plate 30, 31.
  3. ^ Whyte: Railway Atlas. P. 29 f.
  4. ^ A b c d e Whyte: Railway Atlas. P. 32.
  5. ^ Whyte: Railway Atlas. P. 30.
  6. ^ A b c d Whyte: Railway Atlas. P. 31.
  7. ↑ Strange train in Thailand , ARD Weltbilder October 11, 2017
  8. ↑ For details of the timetable and prices see: The Man in Seat 61: Bangkok to Samut Songkhram .
  9. ^ Whyte: Railway Atlas. P. 33.
  10. ↑ Mahachai Market. on thailandbytrain.com (English)
  11. ↑ Train drives through the Mae Klong market again at der-farang.com, April 2, 2016, accessed on May 24, 2016.