GETTING AROUND · 11 min read

Thailand's Trains, From the State Railway's Own Timetable

Thailand's Trains, From the State Railway's Own Timetable
State Railway of Thailand CNR second-class sleeper coaches at Bangkok station, 2017. Photo by MNXANL, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Overnight trains run from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and the south, and day trains to Hua Hin and Pattaya. This guide takes every train time from the State Railway of Thailand’s own timetable, read on 19 September 2026, and the booking rules from its own ticketing site.

Check before you travel. The railway itself advises confirming times with the station master before you go, and runs a 24-hour call centre on 1690 and a train-tracking page. Its timetable pages give one time for each station, labelled as the departure time, and show no running days, so check those with the railway before you plan around a train.

Which Bangkok station

Bangkok has three stations that matter:

  • Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal. Since 19 January 2023, the special express, express and rapid trains on the Northern, Southern and North-Eastern lines have started and ended here, 52 trains at the switchover. It connects with the Red Line to Don Mueang airport and with the MRT Blue Line.
  • Hua Lamphong (Bangkok station). A news report of 5 December 2022, ahead of the move, said commuter, ordinary and excursion trains would keep using it. The Eastern Line to Pattaya starts here, as do some Hua Hin trains.
  • Thon Buri, where some Southern Line trains start.

Check which one your ticket names. A news report of 16 January 2024 said the free shuttle bus between Krung Thep Aphiwat and Hua Lamphong would end on 19 January 2024, and that city bus route 49 ran between the two stations.

Bangkok to Chiang Mai

All from Krung Thep Aphiwat:

Train Leaves Bangkok Reaches Chiang Mai
7 07:30 17:50
109 14:15 04:00
9 18:40 07:15
13 20:05 08:45
51 22:30 11:40

And back:

Train Leaves Chiang Mai Due at Krung Thep Aphiwat
102 06:25 20:05
8 07:30 17:40
52 15:30 05:10
14 17:05 05:55
10 18:20 06:30

The line can be cut by the rains. In September 2024, for example, the State Railway closed the line between Lampang and Chiang Mai after landslides and washouts. The Tourism Authority reported in 2016 that the new sleeper carriages then introduced on the Chiang Mai route included first-class cars with private two-berth rooms; we could not confirm which trains carry them today.

Bangkok to Hua Hin

Hua Hin is on the Southern Line, 3 hours 6 minutes from Krung Thep Aphiwat on train 43, the fastest in the timetable. Every long-distance train to the south calls there, several of them in the middle of the night. The times below are the timetable’s departure times from Hua Hin, except for trains 911 and 261, which end there.

Train Leaves From At Hua Hin
911 06:30 Hua Lamphong 10:57
255 07:20 Thon Buri 11:49
43 07:30 Krung Thep Aphiwat 10:36
261 09:20 Hua Lamphong 13:53
251 13:10 Thon Buri 17:32
171 15:10 Krung Thep Aphiwat 18:49
37 and 45 16:10 Krung Thep Aphiwat 19:50
31 16:50 Krung Thep Aphiwat 20:25
169 17:30 Krung Thep Aphiwat 21:25
83 18:50 Krung Thep Aphiwat 22:34
85 19:50 Krung Thep Aphiwat 23:47

Trains 173, 167 and 39 pass Hua Hin after midnight, at 00:10, 00:23 and 02:09. Coming back, the choices from early morning to late afternoon are:

Train Leaves Hua Hin Due at At
252 06:14 Thon Buri 10:30
170 06:40 Krung Thep Aphiwat 10:50
254 12:47 Thon Buri 17:25
40 14:36 Krung Thep Aphiwat 18:05
262 14:46 Hua Lamphong 19:20
912 16:38 Hua Lamphong 20:15

A Thai PBS news report said the State Railway would open a new Hua Hin station building, south of the old one, from 11 December 2023; the old station is on our Hua Hin page. The Southern Line is double-tracked from Nakhon Pathom to Chumphon, through Hua Hin: a news report said it became usable along its whole length on 4 June 2024, and another, in November 2025, said it was running on an electronic token system while signalling was installed, with the railway aiming to have it fully operational in 2026.

Bangkok to Surat Thani, for Samui, Phangan and Tao

The Surat Thani trains are the rail half of the journey to the Gulf islands. All leave from Krung Thep Aphiwat. The times at Surat Thani are the timetable’s departure times, except for trains 43 and 39, which end there:

Train Leaves Bangkok At Surat Thani
43 07:30 16:20
171 15:10 01:14
37 and 45 16:10 01:52
31 16:50 02:23
169 17:30 04:09
83 18:50 05:01
85 19:50 06:33
173 20:10 06:51
167 20:30 07:26
39 22:50 07:50

Making the boat. Lomprayah’s combined bus-and-catamaran ticket leaves Surat Thani railway station at 09:30, and train 39 reaches it at 07:50. Our island ferry guide has the fares and the rest of the connection.

Back to Bangkok, train 40 leaves Surat Thani at 09:00 and is due at Krung Thep Aphiwat at 18:05. The overnight trains leave between 18:25 (train 44, due in at 03:45) and 23:28 (train 170, due in at 10:50), with train 174 leaving at 20:02 and due in at 06:45.

New in 2026. Rapid trains 173 and 174, between Bangkok and Nakhon Si Thammarat, were due to start on 15 May 2026, the Government Public Relations Department announced, and both are in the current timetable.

Bangkok to Pattaya

The Eastern Line starts at Hua Lamphong, and only two of its trains each way go as far as Pattaya. The Pattaya times are the timetable’s departure times:

Train Leaves Hua Lamphong At Pattaya
997 06:45 09:14
283 06:55 10:35
Train Leaves Pattaya Due at Hua Lamphong
284 14:21 18:15
998 16:26 18:55

All four run between Hua Lamphong and Ban Plu Ta Luang, beyond Pattaya, and 283 and 284 also call at Pattaya Tai, at 10:40 and 14:14. Check running days with the railway on 1690 before planning around these trains. Coaches from Suvarnabhumi to Pattaya are in our airports guide.

Booking

Tickets are sold through three channels: the D-Ticket website and app, any railway station in Thailand, and the call centre on 1690.

  • Which trains are online. D-Ticket sells special express trains (including the diesel railcars and the CNR trains), express, rapid and excursion trains. Ordinary, commuter and local trains, and trains sold at special rates, cannot be booked online; buy those at a station.
  • How far ahead. D-Ticket’s own terms still say between 3 hours and 180 days before travel. News reports on 24 and 25 April 2026 said the State Railway was cutting the window to between 1 and 90 days, depending on the distance travelled, without giving a start date. No railway page confirming the change was found, so allow for either.
  • Details needed. Each traveller’s name, surname, Thai ID or passport number, and a phone number, which the railway uses for its passenger insurance. The name on a ticket cannot be changed.
  • Paying. In full, by credit or debit card or by PromptPay QR code.
  • On the day. D-Ticket’s terms say you must print your ticket to travel.

Fares. We could not read the railway’s fares: its main site refused every connection, and its fare checker and booking search are behind bot checks, so no fare is printed here.

Changes and refunds

D-Ticket’s rules are strict, so book with some certainty:

When Change Refund
3 days before 20 per cent fee 30 per cent back
2 days before 30 per cent fee 30 per cent back
1 day before 50 per cent fee 30 per cent back
Less than 3 hours before Not allowed Not allowed

That changes are also barred inside 3 hours comes from a news report of 19 February 2024.

A refund must be requested at least 3 hours before the train leaves, and 70 per cent of the fare is kept, a rule that took effect on 19 February 2024, according to a news report. Card refunds go back to the card within 45 days, depending on your bank. Tickets paid by PromptPay can only be refunded at a station, and excursion tickets are not refunded at all. A journey can be changed any number of times, except excursion tickets, which can be changed once, at a station.

On board

  • Alcohol. A news report in May 2026 said new announcements on where alcohol is banned covered railway stations and trains: see our guide to Thai laws.
  • Belongings. The UK government warns that people have had things taken from their bags while asleep on buses and trains.

Other lines and plans

  • To Don Mueang. The Dark Red Line runs from Krung Thep Aphiwat to Rangsit, calling at Don Mueang, which its operator’s map shows connecting to the airport; the fares are in our airports guide.
  • To Ayutthaya. A news report said the State Railway launched an air-conditioned service, BNEX, from Krung Thep Aphiwat to Ayutthaya on 1 August 2026, with tickets sold only at stations and no reserved seats.
  • Northern Line. A double track between Khok Kathiam and Pak Nam Pho opened on 26 May 2025, and five Northern Line trains were retimed from 30 May 2025.
  • High-speed rail. No high-speed line is running yet, according to the news reports cited here. The first phase of the Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima line was 52.4 per cent complete in March 2026, according to one, and the private partner in the planned three-airport link to U-Tapao was reported in July 2026 to have asked to end its contract.

What we checked, 19 September 2026

The train times come from the State Railway of Thailand's own station-by-train timetable pages, read on 19 September 2026. They include trains 173 and 174, announced for May 2026, whose times match the government's announcement exactly, and trains 9001 to 9006, which a news report ties to a service launched in August 2026. The pages give one time per station, labelled as the departure time, and show no running days. Booking, change and refund rules come from the railway's D-Ticket site. Fares could not be read: the railway's main website refused every connection, and its fare checker and booking search sit behind bot checks, which were not bypassed, so no fare is printed. The booking-window change comes from news reports labelled as such; new services and line works from the Government Public Relations Department and news reports; the Red Line from its operator and the Government Public Relations Department. Each researched fact was re-opened by a second reader; where the reader could not confirm a fact as first written, only the wording the page supports is used.

Sources

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