State Railway of Thailand - Phitsanulok Railway Station

Let's try to write a post that doesn't upset anyone........So, it wasn't all just whisky, karaoke and bickering siblings at the 42nd annual Thammahiwed family get together in Phitsanulok last weekend. I had time to go and have a coffee and take a few photos at the station!

Things are a-changing on the SRT (State Railway of Thailand). Very soon many stations will be demolished and rebuilt to accommodate the new double-track lines. Currently, the vast majority of the 4000+ km network is still single-track working.
If I'm honest, I think the whole network is a disaster, as are the future plans which as well as including new stations and twin tracks, also involve tie-ups with the Japanese and Chinese for the high-speed links, the current never-ending and slow BTS expansion and the moving of the historic Hua Lampaong as the main Bangkok railway station to Bang Sue. There is also an airport rail-link extension to link Suvarnabhumi to Don Mueang.

This is what Bang Sue station will look like when it opens next year. The largest railway station in South-East Asia combining high-Speed rail lines, the current network and one of the new BTS lines in a huge superstation.......or that's the plan anyway. We will see! Photo copyright of Render Thailand.

The lack of a coherent and integrated rail policy must be wasting billions of baht. We use metre gauge on most of the network which is non-electrified and then we have overhead electric and third-rail electric running on standard gauge. Total mess in my opinion which is never going to achieve the goals of shifting freight off the roads and onto the railways. I won't even begin to mention the clapped out old rolling stock.....

I could write all day about the woes of the SRT but this post was designed to show Phitsanulok as it is today. The station renewal will do-away with the traditional colour schemes of mainly maroon and cream and replace it with a green theme to represent trees and mountains in the North and blue to represent the sea at the Southern stations! Lovely....

Phitsanulok

Phitsanulok is situated approximately 400km north of Bangkok and is a small, semi-rural city and also the provincial capital of Phitsanulok province which lies as the gateway between the north and central regions. Its a lovely city and of some historical importance due to it being the birthplace of King Naresuan. Well worth a couple of nights in a laid back non-touristy town. You could, of course, fly here but how boring would that be?

The entrance to Phitsanulok station is directly off a hustling, bustling road. Typical and wonderful Thai cacophony!

See the Rickshaw waiting by the entrance on the right-hand side, you don't see them too often anymore. The guy in pink on the scooter in the foreground is a Food Panda driver and as always, Thai flags and the flag of the King is flying at either side of his portrait.

Turning 180 degrees from the last picture we see an old Steam loco sat in the middle of the road and the town looking away from the station. Many stations have old locos outside for decoration, this is just part of the Thai psyche of not throwing anything away I think!! The same with aircraft, outside many airports and Air Force bases there are old scrap aircraft, many mounted on plinths! This also runs on a personal level too....my house is full of the wife's shit that really has no use other than bin fodder!!

Tuk-tuks line up outside waiting to take passengers to their final destinations. Tuk-tuks you say? They don't look like the ones we saw in Bangkok at SF4? That's right, each province seems to have its own local Tuk-tuk factory with their distinct local design. Sadly for Phitsanulok, theirs looked like they were designed by Blue Peter and made from Papier-maché and they really reminded me of the old, sky-blue 'Invalid carriages' we had in the UK in 60s and 70s!

Phitsanulok being a provincial capital does have the station to go with its prestige! There are freight handling facilities and stabling and engineering facilities. In these photos, oil tanks await filling.....or possibly emptying ! and the station shunter cum pilot sits awaiting its next duties by the stabling point. Notice the tracks and their gauge, the distance between the rails. It is narrow, just 1 metre which by comparison to 'standard gauge' which is most common around the world and makes for a rock and roll ride compared to the smoother journeys you get on 4 feet 8 and a half-inch wide rail gauge.

In the last few years, Thailand has begun to take the issue of disability more seriously and although it has a long.....VERY long way to go, a start has been made. In the first photo you may have seen disabled and women's parking in front of the station and on this picture, they have put a little bridge across the rails between the platforms so people can get to the other platform!! We don't do footbridges or subways. Here you just walk across the tracks!!

Of course, they lift it out of the way when a train is coming but we don't actually have many trains, even on this mainline between Bangkok and Chiang Mai! See the ticket office and the list of all trains that stop during the day. Not so many!!

The other thing I like is no one seems to mind you wandering around the railway! I wandered around taking photos for an hour and stood for a while outside the engine shed, by a loco chatting to an engine driver. It's this casual 'take responsibility for yourself' that I like here. No £1000 fines for trespassing on the railway but being fair, things move at a much slower, and noisier pace here!

I actually quite like the symmetry of this photo which would have been much improved had it been level!

A relatively smart 4307 stands waiting for its next tour of duty!

It seems 4307 is quite a rarity being one of only 9 locos constructed in its class by French railway engineers, Alsthom in 1983. 2400hp and 100km/h.

Finally, I popped back that evening to take this picture of 4205 and 4414 all tucked up in bed for the night in the stabling point!

Despite my initial grumblings, I do love the Thai railways and travelling here by train. They not only transport you to unpronounceable destinations. Slowly! They also transport you to a different time, not necessarily a better, or worse time, but a time when life was slower and a whole lot simpler.

As always, it's on the wonderful @steemitworldmap .
@nathen007

All photos taken by me last weekend unless stated. The map is a screenshot from Google maps used without permission and additional factual information referenced from Wikipedia.