Getting Here by Train

Traveller Ian Craven from Sydney reports (2008):  I recently travelled on the State Railways of Thailand on the Bangkok-Ubon run.  We took daytime train 21, the express diesel rail car, in 2nd class air conditioned seats.  We easily bought tickets the day before from a Bangkok travel agent for a very reasonable commission, about 50 baht.  The train consisted of only three cars, and predictably we were the only farang on board.  Train left just 5 minutes late, at 0550, and took at least an hour to get out of the suburbs of Bangkok, with the country eventually giving way to rice paddies as far as the eye can see; the train then climbs through some low hilly country with mainly teak plantations and orchards, and eventually gives way to a vast plain, again with rice predominate, along with sugar and banana’s, and all kinds of towns and villages, large and small.  The seating was very comfortable, the air con just right (not too cold which is often the case), and the service impeccable.  Despite a rather gruff visage, the conductor was in fact a very amiable fat controller, turned out in an immaculately pressed uniform.  The train even features a 'trolley dolly', who serves breakfast (croissant & sweet bun), water, orange juice, tea and coffee (why is railway coffee uniformly bad everywhere in the world?!) and lunch (like an airline pack featuring a small chicken curry and rice, and some kind of putrid fish that even the locals were poking at with disdain!).  All this comes included in the price of the ticket.  Train arrived in Ubon dead on time at 1410, despite some unscheduled stops along the way to let off passengers.  While it is certainly not one of the great train journeys of the world, it is not overly long and provides some excellent views of Thai rural life, and is a cheap, efficient and very effective way to get to the southern Lao PDR frontier.  I would highly recommend it to anyone. The international bus from Ubon-Pakse runs twice daily, about 3 hours, 200 baht

How to buy tickets:  By email to passenger-ser@railway.co.th...

Although it's easy to book at the station, if you want to travel at peak Thai holiday periods or absolutely have to be on a particular train soon after arrival in Thailand, you may want to book in advance.  You can do this either through one of the Thai travel agencies recommended below (see next section) or by email with the State Railways of Thailand.  To book with the State Railways of Thailand, email them at least 15 days before your date of travel on passenger-ser@railway.co.th or fax + 66 2 225 6068.  Your fax or e-mail must include the journey, date, train number, departure time, class, seat or sleeper (upper or lower berth), number of passengers, your name and e-mail address, and whether you want to collect your tickets at Don Muang or Bangkok Hualamphong station in the city centre.  You will receive an e-mail confirmation, and you then collect and pay for your tickets at the station booking office at least 1 hour before departure.  Bookings open 30 days before departure, but email bookings are only accepted more than 15 days before departure to give them time to respond.  The Thai railways charge 200 Baht (£3 or $5) per email booking.  Booking this way normally works well, but recently several people have said they waited up to 2 weeks for a reply, so you may just have to be patient.  Some people have recently reported that they haven't had a reply.  If you have any problems, or need to make a booking less than 15 days before departure, try using an agency such as Thaifocus or Traveller2000 as shown below.