Chiang Mai Train Station ‘The end of Thai Northern Railway Line’

Speaking of a Thai northern train line trip, every tourists must have stopped at Chiang Mai Train Station before. Not only because Chiang Mai is a famous tourism town, but this train station is the end of the line too, however.

Chiang Mai Train Station is located on Charoen Muang Road, Wat Ked District, Muang County. Its area is quite enormous, about 190 thousands square kilometres. If you start your trip from Bangkok, it requires about 751 kilometres to reach Chiang Mai, or about 11-13 hours. That’s quite a long trip. So, be sure to get everything ready if you want to travel to Chiang Mai by a train. Book the most comfortable train. Get your luggages ready. And try to get enough sleep before the trip, if you’re afraid that you will never get sleep on a train.

There aren’t any records showing the exact time that the station was built, however, the station was published with clear photos in a train journal in the year 1968. In the journal, it said that the train had been designed by Professor M.C. Wothayakorn Worawan, who had also designed Thonburi Railway Station. The interesting part is that, both Chiang Mai Station and Thonburi station got clock towers as their highlights. Thefore, it can be possible that Chiang Mai Railway Station might have been built somewhere around the establishment time of Thonburi Station.

Chiang Mai Train Station was decorated in quite-traditional style. You know, this town used to be a part of Lanna land before. There is no wonder if architectures there will reflect the art of Lanna.

The station consists of 5 separated platforms and about 12 different bogies, both for arrival and departure.

If you arrive at Chiang Mai Train Station and you want to go do something at some place else, for instances, going to the old city or Chiang Mai town, you probably walk to the front road and hail a red truck, which the service fee will be at about 40-50 Baht. Remember, red truck is the most well-known public vehicle in Chiang Mai. If you don’t know how you can go somewhere, a red truck is your final answer.

Mostly, all train stations will have small shops selling snacks and drinks for passenger. There are usually foods serving aboard on some bogies. But you can still bring your own food if you want to. 

Lastly, if you wish to travel to Chiang Mai by a train, you can do a little web search to see if you can book a ticket online. In fact, you can. Just check if there are any free seats left, especially in special holidays like Songkran or New Year.

How to get there 

The fastest and most convenient way is to hail a red truck right from Chiang Mai downtown.