Taking the Overnight Sleeper Train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai

In Late 2016, Thailand got several brand new sleeper trains for some of the long routes, like Bangkok <-> Chiang Mai. These were supposed to be a major upgrade over the old trains. I don’t have a point of comparison to the old trains, but from the photos, the old trains don’t look very nice. The newer ones, by comparison, look bright and modern.

The newer trains have two classes, both air conditioned, and a special ladies-only car in second class. The older trains do not have the ladies-only car. The second class cars contain berths in an open arrangement lining the sides of the train cars. They have an upper and a lower berth.  The lower one is slightly larger and therefore costs a bit more to book. First class cars have private cabins for two people with a sink inside the cabin.  If you are traveling alone and opt for first class, you may be sharing a first class cabin with someone of the same gender.

Since I like train travel, I made sure to book the newer cars. Thailand isn’t exactly known for its fast and efficient train service, but I figured, as long as it was a sleeper train, I could get some rest, even if there were delays.

Thailand Railways runs a mix of the old cars and the new cars these days, so it’s important to know which trains have the newer cars before you book.  On the journey to Chiang Mai and back, the #9 and #10 trains are the ones with the newer cars. Unfortunately the #9 is the earliest of the two sleeper trains that departs Bangkok each day, leaving at 18:40 from the new Krung Thep Apiwat Central Station in Bang Sue, and arriving around 07:15 in Chiang Mai. On the way back, the #10 train from Chiang Mai is the latest train that departs from Chiang Mai, but it still departs early, at 18:00.

If you can’t remember which trains are the nice ones, luckily the 12Go transport website has photos of what the cars look like on each train. Look for the ones with the red seats. You can book your tickets directly from there too.

My friend and I opted for the 2nd class ladies cabin for my first overnight train journey in Thailand. I boarded the train with plenty of time to spare.  When boarding the train, the lower berths in second class are arranged as two regular seats facing one another. The upper berths are folded up toward the ceiling at an angle, so as to provided plenty of head room.  

The seat configuration contained two cup holders and a fold-out tray table to be shared.  The nice thing about this train is there is one electrical outlet for each berth, so everyone can keep their phones charged overnight.  There is also a small reading light above the outlet. Storage for your belongings is underneath the seats.  There’s plenty of room there for even a large suitcase, but a very large suitcase might stick out from under the seat, making it less comfortable to sit down.  This is not a problem in the bed configuration. There is some overhead storage provided for the upper berths - slatted cubbies that drop down from the ceiling.  I didn’t see anyone using them though.

To my surprise, the train departed promptly.  I was expecting some delays.  This is Thailand, after all.   On my last train journey to Ayutthaya, the train departed 45 minutes late.  After the train departed, I noticed that each train car has a cabin attendant. I thought this was nice.  They provided one bottle of water to each passenger as soon as the train departed. Then the cabin attendant spent about 5 minutes giving announcements in English and then about 15 minutes (but it felt like an hour) giving announcements in Thai.  I’m not sure what additional information she needed to convey to the Thai passengers, but based on my very limited Thai, she spent a lot of time talking about the bathrooms 😃. Speaking of bathrooms, there are toilets at the end of each car, and sinks as well.  They can be compared to Airline toilets in size and functionality. They were clean at the beginning of the journey.  But by the end the trash can was overflowing and the floor was very wet. 

One thing the cabin attendant said (in English) was that the dining car is only open until 22:00, and also that from 23:00 on, everyone would be expected to stay in their own cabin.  This seems like a good way to prevent people from roaming through cabins and trying to steal people’s things while they sleep, so I appreciated it.

The dining car itself was pretty simple.  There was a counter where you could order food (which all seemed to come from 7/11) and booths to sit and eat. If you don’t want 7/11 food for dinner, it’s probably best to pick something up before you get on the train.  We ate around 19:00 and then went back to our seats to relax.

By the time we got back to our seats - around 19:30-20:00 - the cabin attendant was already starting to turn down the beds. I believe this was done on a per-request basis at first. The bottom seats slid together to form a platform.  The cabin attendant used a key to unlock the top berth and fold it down.  Contained within the top berth were the cushion pads we would be sleeping on, and clean sheets, a pillow, and blanket for both the top and bottom berths. Each berth has curtains that go all the way across, providing some privacy for the person inside. Overall this was a very thoughtful design.

The train journey was quite rickety and a bit bumpy the entire time.  I don’t remember a smooth portion of track.  So if a bit of rocking bothers you, taking the train might not be for you.  For me, I was able to ignore it. 

I don’t like going to bed early so I stayed awake checking my phone for an hour or two after the beds were made.  I have TrueMove and I got service about 85% of the time I was checking my phone, which I thought was pretty good.  Sometimes it would drop out and then come back. Eventually I fell asleep and was awakened at around 06:45 for arrival around 07:20. After everyone was awake they quickly changed the beds back into seats.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that my sleep on the train was restful.  But I did choose to stay up until almost midnight, and I woke up a couple of times to use the toilet. All-in-all I did enjoy the trip and would consider taking the train up to Chiang Mai again. 

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