Southern Line (Thailand)
| Southern Line | |
|---|---|
Hua Hin Railway Station, one of the most important stations on the Southern Line
|
|
| Overview | |
| Type | Inter-city rail |
| Locale |
Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom Province, Suphanburi Province, most provinces in Western Thailand, most provinces in Southern Thailand, and some area in  Malaysia
|
| Termini |
Hua Lamphong and New Thonburi Su-ngai Kolok, Suphanburi, Nam Tok, Khiri Rat Nikhom, Kantang, Nakhon Si Thammarat, and Padang Besar |
| Services |
8:
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| Operation | |
| Opened | 1903 |
| Owner | State Railway of Thailand |
| Depot(s) | Thonburi depot, Chumphon Depot, Thung Song depot, and Hat Yai depot |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 1,144.29 km (711.03 mi) |
| Track gauge | 1,000 mm (Meter gauge) |
8:
Southern Line is a railway line in Thailand, built and owned by State Railway of Thailand (SRT), located in some provinces in Central, Western, and Southern region of Thailand. Its length is 1,144.29 kilometres, making it the longest railway line in Thailand.
The Southern Line is often the target of terrorist attacks of the South Thailand Insurgency especially between the Hat Yai-Sungai Kolok section. All stations and halts between Hat Yai Junction and Sungai Kolok have been fenced off and gates will open and close only during operating hours.
In 1894, the Danish engineer Aage Westenholz (1859-1935), uncle of the writer Karen Blixen, a concession to build a route from Bangkok to Phetchaburi. As with other, similar projects of this time to railway construction in Thailand, the start of construction failed due to the difficulty of raising sufficient capital for the project. As a result of this situation, the Thai state decided in 1898 to build the main links of the country by the state itself, he bought back the concession. Other concession requests made by railroad entrepreneurs in the Thai part of the Malay Peninsula were all rejected.
On April 1, 1903, traffic on the first completed section between Bangkok-Thonburi and Phetchaburi was picked up with makeshift carriage material: delivery of a significant portion of the vehicles had been delayed. Only when these had arrived, the official opening on June 19, 1903 by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V.) More sections followed successively from 1911 until on July 1, 1918, the traffic was recorded via Padang Besar to Malaysia - initially with two trains per week, which operated with a journey time of 60 hours. An official opening ceremony did not take place - due to the war. In 1922 night traffic and sleeping cars were introduced. Until then, long-distance trips were interrupted for overnight stays. The RSR maintained hotels at major train stations. The travel time from Bangkok to Penang reduced to just over 30 hours.
After the Thai state had bought back the West timber concession, now planned the Royal Railway Department (RRD) in the Ministry of Public Works under Karl Bethge the route to Phetchaburi. The construction work began in April 1900. In contrast to the rest of the Thai railway network, which was built in standard gauge, the state railway here chose the meter gauge to facilitate a later seamless transition to the also meterspurigen railways in Burma and Malaya. This was all the easier, as the Southern Railway initially could not get any rail connection to the rest of the network, as there was no bridge over the Mae Nam Chao Phraya yet. Therefore, the route was not from the Bangkok Hua Lamphong Central Station, but received their own terminus in Thonburi, the station Thonburi. Its reception building was designed in the style of brick expressionism by the German architect Karl Döhring.
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Wikipedia