I have been to Thailand for many times already, but the train didn’t it turned out a ride, came back to the railway station, but there were no tickets, and had to go by bus. They are also good, but since it was I heard about Thai reserved seat for a long time, I decided that in Chiang Mai This time I will definitely go by train. And along the way the intention turned out to be strongly, so that’s how it happened.
In general, I liked everything, reserved seat, really, much more comfortable than usual to us. But the trains are shabby, a little dirty in the car itself and the toilet, approximately, as in our not branded trains. Maybe in the first grade all the more civilized but I was driving in the second. So not bekpekeram and aesthetes, better airplanes, especially since the price is comparable (with first class). But Railways Thailand travel very, very comfortable around the country!
The content of the article
- 1 Ticket purchase
- 1.1 How to buy a train ticket via the Internet
- 1.2 At the checkout
- 1.3 Booking by phone or mail
- 2 About Thai trains
- 2.1 Classes
- 2.2 Interior inside
- 2.3 Fare in the Thai train
- 2.4 Speed and time
- 3 Railway Map of Thailand
Contents
Ticket purchase
How to buy a train ticket via the Internet
Recently there was a site (Russian, English) where you can book and buy a train / bus ticket – 12GO.asia. it Now the only such service. Very comfortably! And because at the office. The site of the Thai railways have long ceased to sell tickets. Payment by card or PayPal.
The bus ticket is electronic, but you should get a train ticket real, either in the office of the agency (several points), or by mail. You also need to know that the Thai railways do not have such a base. with tickets, so you need the original ticket, which is not lose, for it is not restored.
Railway tickets to Thailand →
At the register
Electronic train tickets do not exist, therefore, either through agency (see above), or immediately at the box office at the station. Buy in The cashier’s office is better in advance, as I already wrote, I have not been several times I managed to leave on the day of departure, there were no tickets.
Here is the official website of the Thai railways – http://www.railway.co.th, which has a train schedule and prices
Reservations by phone or mail
The option I have not verified, since I usually need a ticket for a week before the trip. You can book a ticket directly from the iron roads of Thailand via email [email protected] or fax +6622256068. The service costs 100 baht and is available for tickets in within 15-60 days before the date of departure. The request must be your last name, your email, route, class, lower / upper regiment, train number, day of departure and time, quantity passengers. You will receive the answer to your email, but can answer very long, and 2 weeks, and a month, so do it as early as possible. Payment of the ticket will need to be made at the box office of the railway station Hua Lumphong in Bangkok.
Railway station in Bangkok
Railway station in Bangkok
At the station you can not smoke and rightly so!
About Thai trains
Classes
Standard cars (second class / second class) are two types: when all the shelves on each side of the passage are side (my case), or just the usual transverse shelves without side, as our coupe, only without doors. The thing is that Thai cars narrower than ours, that’s not transverse + side shelves, as in our Russian reserved seats. Second class happens with the conditioner (a / c) and with the fan (fan), and also sedentary with a / c and fan. Seats, as in our express trains with drooping backs.
Second class air conditioned like our reserved seat
Second class seats with air conditioning
In addition to the second class, there is still the first (first class). He looks like on our coupe, only the shelves there are only two: the lower and upper, and there is More Room first class, when the shelf is only one. The third grade is very similar to the usual Russian electric train with wooden or dermatinovye seats.
Interior inside
The fact that the cars are narrower is even good, there are fewer people rides But that’s not the point, comfort is achieved at the expense of more wide shelves and curtains! It is clear that the width of the bed can be and it was impossible to design it in Russian trains, but here are the curtains a cheap decision, why no one thought of it? Immediately I recall how we were covered with sheets to get a private area 
True, it was not well combined with the lack of air conditioning, although without Sheets can suffocate sometimes if you go south in the summer. I, By the way, I thought that the air conditioner would blow mercilessly (standard situation for Thailand), but in fact it turned out that it was enough hoodies, and that, just because I’m used to the heat.
I am lying on the bottom shelf, wide and comfortable
Closed the curtain and got privacy
Each shelf has its own light bulb.
I had a lower shelf and it is quite comfortable to sleep on. Perhaps only too high people will have nowhere to put their feet (on too tall people are not calculated), but it seemed to me that the regiment slightly longer than our side. Things you put in a special place in passage, and not under the shelf. For one thing, not so safe in terms of theft, on the other hand is easy access. By the way, very much I liked that the upper shelves also have a special place for things and it is not over your head, but also in the aisle. And so there is no upstairs third luggage rack, about which you fight your head.
When I entered the car, the regiment was already covered, it’s nice that it’s not need to mess around. In the morning I collected it and got two seats and table Well, or rather I did not hang up a table, but I had one.
The bottom shelf turns into 2 such seats
Another unusual moment – there is no titanium with boiling water. Well, if suddenly you are planning to take with you a little doshirak and tea small bags. But there is a restaurant car, where the prices, though higher, than at the street, but quite sane. Plus some stations will grandmothers go in and offer food, however, the range small.
Menu car-restaurant, distributed conductor
The toilet is dirty, but there is a urinal
And there is no this terrible toilet, do not, like a kite on him climb with your feet!
Fare in the Thai train
Lower shelf (Lower bed) is always more expensive than the upper one (Upper bed) that in the first class, that in the second. Ticket to chiang mai out Bangkok is worth:
- On the top shelf of the second class with air conditioning 750 baht, on lower 820 baht
- On the top shelf of the second class with fan 530 baht, on bottom 580 baht
- Second class seat with air conditioning 540 baht
- Second class seat with fan 430 baht
- The third class sedentary 270 baht, like a train
- In my first class train there wasn’t, but in others it was, and the ticket costs 1253/1453 baht depending on the shelf, or 1950 baht with one shelf in a compartment
- Children’s tickets (from 3 to 11 years old) cost 100-200 baht cheaper major, up to 3 years free.
From Bangkok to Chiang Mai, somewhere around 800 km, this is to make it clear the ratio of cost and distance. If my memory serves me, Russian trains are 2-3 times more expensive and more expensive. Tickets for Thai trains over the past 4 years did not go up altogether.
And if we talk about the price of the first class and the coupe in the Russian trains, then In general, the difference is even greater. But in Thailand, it seems to me It’s easier to fly planes than first class, a bit more expensive (usually 1500-2000 baht), but at times faster. And any seats fit for some extreme lovers, after all, it’s not everybody to sit for 15-18 hours wants to (comfortable bus is only 9-10 hours). In my opinion, if you want an Asian flavor (it is in cheap sedentary places), then you need to choose some short distance, and not Long route Bangkok-Chiang Mai or Bangkok-Suratthani.
Speed and time
Despite the fact that the train can sleep well (if we talking about the back ground), it is worth knowing that trains in Thailand are not punctual like ours. Starting from what you can wait at the station for 2-4 hours, ending with the fact that he will come to the destination city a few hours later. For example, my the train left at 22 o’clock, and had to arrive at 12 o’clock, and arrived somewhere in the 16. And the bus Bangkok-Chiang Mai travels usually hours 10 and strictly on schedule.
And the situation with the late trains is not nonsense, but the most ordinary. It seems to me that every second is late (or every first) train. Apparently, only poor people travel by train. population because of cheapness and they have nowhere to hurry. Especially it The third class concerns, there the price is generally cheap.
Each composition is washed before departure.
Views from the window to Thailand
Railway Map of Thailand
Railway Map of Thailand
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