Trains in Thailand - everything travelers need to know

General information about Thai trains

Trains in Thailand are a great way to travel, especially for budget travelers. Their disadvantage compared to airplanes, obviously, is speed, but they are much cheaper. If we compare them with intercity buses of Thailand, then the trains are more convenient (it is more convenient to sleep in them when moving long distances) and safer (bus companies are often in pursuit security is neglected for profit).

As for the cost, it very much depends on the class of the train and even the specific type of car in its composition, as well as the distance of the trip: if you travel by train for long distances in recumbent places, then the train will be slightly more expensive compared to the bus; if you compare the second or third sedentary class with the bus, then the trains in most cases, much cheaper buses. Well, trains, for the most part, are slower than buses.

Routes and timetables

The route network makes it possible to visit almost all the most interesting tourist places in the country, and together with buses you can get almost anywhere, and even to neighboring states. Which is very convenient, at the ticket offices you can buy a combined ticket (Joint Tickets) to places where trains do not go. For example, you can purchase a ticket from Bangkok to Koh Samui, and it will include a train, transfer from the railway station to the pier, and ferry delivery.

You can get information about all routes, schedules and costs on the official website of the Railways of Thailand https://www.railway.co.th/. The price received on this site will correspond to the ticket price when purchased at the ticket offices at the station, when buying tickets via the Internet, a commission will be added to the cost.

However, do not be surprised if you open this site once in ten years. All this is presumably due to protection from attacks, so access from suspicious non-Thai IP addresses is blocked. If it won't open for you, you'll have to install a VPN server that mimics a Thai IP address. You can also try to open not the main page of the site, but this one - https://www.dticket.railway.co.th/, sometimes it helps, but you won't find commuter train schedules on it, and only long-distance trains available for online booking.

If you still can't open the site, then alternatively you can use the schedule from a commercial site 12go.asia, and buy tickets there as well. We have also created separate convenient pages with timetables for all destinations in Thailand here.

And here is a map of the railways, it will help you plan your train journey in Thailand:

Map of Railways of Thailand

Map of railways of Thailand on a separate page

The main railway hub of the country is Bangkok. It is from here that most trains start their journey to the north, south, east and west of Thailand. To get from one part of the country (for example, from the north) to another (for example, to the south), you will definitely have to follow Bangkok, having changed trains there to The train.

For this, there are as many as 5 stations in Bangkok:

• Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal or Bang Sue (this is the new main railway station of the country)
• Hualamphong Train Station (it is the former main station of the country)
• Thonburi Train Station aka Bangkok Noi (a small station from where trains run only to Kanchanaburi Province and the River Kwai)
• Don Muang Rail Statio (intermediate railway station near Don Muang airport, convenient to immediately leave this airport in separate directions)
• Wongwian Yai Railway Station (a separate railway line starts from this station to Maha Chai village and famous railway market)

Read more we told you about all Bangkok stations here...

Popular train routes in Thailand

The most popular routes for tourists on trains in Thailand are:

• Bangkok-Ayutthaya
• Bangkok-Chiang Mai
• Bangkok-Surat Thani (heading south to get to Koh Samui, Phangan Island, O. Tao, Phuket Island, Krabi)
• Bangkok-Aranyaprathet (eastbound to get there to Cambodia in Siem Reap)
• Bangkok-Pattaya
• Bangkok-Kanchanaburi
• Bangkok-Nong Khai (to get to Laos thru Vientiane)
• Bangkok-Malaysia-Singapore (Langkawi, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Singapore)

For more information on how to get by train to a particular place in Thailand, see the relevant sections:

• How to get to Ayutthaya
• How to get to Chiang Mai
• How to get to Chiang Rai
• How to get to Pattaya
• How to get to Phuket
• How to get to Koh Samui

Classes of wagons of Thailand

Train cars are in no way inferior in comfort to Russian trains, and sometimes even superior, but this applies only to the most expensive tickets for long-distance destinations. You have a choice of three classes, which are also divided into sedentary and recumbent, air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned. But this does not mean that in every Thai train you will find all these classes, all individually according to directions and train numbers. Each long-distance train has a dining car.

Trains in Thailand exist:

• 3rd class. These are only seats, the cars resemble our electric trains. Most of them are not air-conditioned cars with wooden or leather benches, there are fans on the ceilings. You should not use such cars for long trips, but for short ones you can't think of anything better, taking into account their price. Tickets on such flights are very cheap: for example, for 15 baht you can get from Bangkok to Ayutthaya, and for 31 baht to Pattaya.



• 2nd class seats. As the name implies, this is a sitting class. For the most part, these are air-conditioned cars, but sometimes (rarely) you can find non-air-conditioned ones. This is a great option for daytime travel, but if you have an urgent desire to save money, you can take a ride at night. The chairs recline back and it is quite possible to get enough sleep like on a plane. Just do not forget to dress warmly, otherwise you will freeze very much: air conditioners work mercilessly.

  Among the second sitting class, there are cars in DRC or PDR trains. This is like a second class of superior comfort, in which the seat backs lean back more.

  You will have to pay twice as much for the second sitting class as for the 3rd.



• 2nd class sleeper. This class is a reserved car in our way. A great option to get enough sleep during a long or overnight commute, and at the same time not overpay for almost twice as expensive first class. The second class in Thailand is found like ours, with a division, as it were, into compartments but without doors, and also just beds are located along the aisle without a breakdown into compartments. It is very convenient here that each lounger is closed from the rest of the car by a thick curtain.

  Among the second recumbent class, there are non-conditioned wagons, moreover, they cost much less and therefore are sold out faster. An unconditioned second class may turn out to be a very good option for overnight travel (it won't be too hot).

• 1st class (1st class). Although this class costs almost the same as a flight on a budget airline, it fully justifies its price. The trip takes place in a double compartment, which even has a sink where you can wash your face and wash your hands. Toilets are shared along the edges of the car, but they are clean, unlike our trains, and there is even a shower, though with cold water.

Where and how to buy train tickets in Thailand

A paper ticket for Thai trains looks something like this:

All the information in the ticket is duplicated in English and everything is quite clear.

Thailand's train ticket sales system allows you to easily buy tickets online from home, directly at the station, as well as at ticket offices and travel agencies in Thai cities.

Tickets can be purchased immediately before the train departs, but you can also buy a ticket 30 days in advance. It's up to you to buy tickets in advance or not, but we still recommend that you take care of purchasing tickets in advance, especially for long distances and high-class railcars. There is no need to purchase tickets for the 3rd or 2nd sitting classes in advance, they are always available before departure.

• Buying tickets online

  You can buy tickets online on the official website of the railways of Thailand - https://www.dticket.railway.co.th/DTicketPublicWeb/home/Home. English is available there, the site opens from the Russian Federation without a VPN. But it works very slowly, and has been for several years. We ourselves have repeatedly tried to buy tickets on it, but it has never worked out because of the "stupidity" of the site, and now, due to the blocking of Russian cards, this seems unlikely at all.

  However, there is a simple working alternative that we use – this is the site 12go.asia. Moreover, it allows you to buy tickets even more than a month before shipment, which cannot be done on the official website. It is possible to pay with a Union Pay card, PayPal, foreign cards, there are other payment methods through wallets or in cash through payment points, but this is only during your stay in Thailand. Mir 12go does not accept cards.

  🔍 Set your search criteria

  💲 Pay for your ticket online

  ✉ Get your itinerary receipt by email

  🚌 Arrive at the point of departure

• Purchase at the station

  You can buy tickets at the station immediately before departure, as well as 30 days in advance. The purchase of tickets at the station takes place without any commissions.

  To buy tickets for long-distance trains with a seat for any class, even for a seated third, you need to present your passport. The ticket is registered, your name fits into it.

  Tickets for the sitting (Seating) second and third classes do not need to be purchased in advance, they are always available. In the recumbent (Sleeping) class, it makes sense to purchase tickets in advance, especially during the holidays (New Year's Eve and Thai New Year Songkran, see holidays in Thailand)