The Laos-China Railway opened on the 2nd of December 2021, making it the first railway in Laos (not counting the border shuttle at Thanaleng from Nong Khai in Thailand). The train from Vientiane to Boten takes just 3.5 hours, and its main stops include Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang, and Muang Xai. Laos was still closed […]
Da Lat – Trai Mat Railway – A restored heritage railway in Vietnam
The Da Lat – Trai Mat Railway is a restored section of the former Da Lat–Thap Cham railway. The original railway connected Da Lat to the main North-South railway of Vietnam. Da Lat became a popular place to escape the tropical heat and enjoy the cool mountain air. Like the hill stations of India, a […]
Jakarta Airport Rail Link – Train details, and which stations are best for visitors
Jakarta is famous for being one of the most congested cities in the world, so the introduction of the airport rail link has been a welcome relief for visitors to the Indonesian capital. The Soekarno–Hatta Airport Rail Link was built with the combination of a new railway connecting to an existing track. As such the […]
Palembang to Bandar Lampung by train – riding the coal-subsidised railway of South Sumatra
Sumatra is the sixth-largest island in the world with a population of over 50 million people, yet there are only a few railway lines on the island. There are plans to unite the current lines to form a trans-Sumatran railway that would travel from Medan to Bandar Lampung. This is a distance of over 1750 […]
Laos-China Railway – Travel information for the Boten-Vientiane Railway
The Laos-China Railway (also referred to as the Boten – Vientiane Railway) opened on 2 December 2021, making it the first passenger railway in Laos. This railway will be connected to trains from Kunming in China, and eventually, there will be direct services from Bangkok. Laos also has a station at Thanaleng near the Thai-Laos […]
Hanoi Train Street – An infrastructure anomaly that’s become an Instagram sensation
One of the more unusual tourist attractions to emerge in Hanoi is the Hanoi train street. This “street” is more of a passageway that has a single railway line passing through it. There are houses on either side with barely enough room for the train to pass through. The railway is not fenced off, so […]
Hanoi to Haiphong by train
The Hanoi-Haiphong railway is one of the few railway lines in Vietnam that is not part of the main north-south railway. Originally this line was part of the Yunnan-Haiphong Railway that was built by France between 1904–1910. Haiphong is the closest seaport to Hanoi so it’s always been an important access point for Hanoi. Haiphong […]
Jungle Railway in Malaysia – The best train times and most scenic sections
The Jungle Railway The Jungle Railway is one of the great train journeys of Southeast Asia, spanning the length of Peninsula Malaysia through its rugged interior. Officially known as the East Coast Railway Line (ECRL), the Jungle Railway travels from Johor Bahru near the Singapore-Malaysia border in the south, to Tumpat near the Thailand border […]
Getting the train in the troubled deep south of Thailand
As a frequent traveller to Thailand I’m familiar with the troubles of the deep south of Thailand, where many countries have advisories to not travel there. As part of my Southeast Asia railway project I took a train through the southern provinces. This is my trip report and what to expect. What this isn’t is […]
Bangkok to Trang by train, and onward connections to the Trang Islands
Getting the train from Bangkok to Trang in Southern Thailand is a great way to get the Trang Islands. Sleeper trains depart Bangkok every evening, arriving in Trang at a reasonable hour in the morning. From the train station you can then get minivans to the pier for boats to the islands. There are two […]
