Hua Lamphong - Bangkok's Historic Old Railway Station

There has been a railway station at Hua Lamphong servicing Bangkok since June 1916 however the future of this historic station is clouded by a threat of closure. The opening of Bangkok's new railway hub at Bang Sue has thrown doubt on the long term future of this delightful old station, so I've visited Hua Lamphong to take a nostalgic look at this grand Italian designed building to review the station today and assess its future.

For anyone who has a romantic view of a bygone age of train travel and when Hua Lamphong used to see around 60,000 passengers a day the sight of a decaying infrastructure and a place that is a shadow of its former glory days is a bitter pill to swallow! This beautiful old station still evokes memories of times when the train was a great way to travel across this beautiful country. Better roads and cheap budget airlines have made an impact on long distance travel around Thailand and Hua Lamphong has been unable to move with the times.

The new transport hub at Bang Sue, named Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal by the King last year, is a modern super station built on a much larger plot of land to future proof train travel into Thailand's capital. It has however unfortunately thrown the long term future of Hua Lamphong into doubt. Today there are only around 20 trains a day operating out of the old station as passenger services at Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal are ramped up.

Hua Lamphong still has a certain charm and I urge people to visit this monument to the past before its inevitable closure at some point in the not too distant future. I hope the plans to retain the building and open a railway museum on the site go ahead.

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[colinjbartlett]

Thanks, a nice station with character. Glad you captured it before it changes into something new, whatever that might be.