Welcome to the 500th Post on RailTravel Station!
It’s been quite a shift in the articles posted here from the first few concentrating solely on Singapore and Malaysia railways, to slowly expanding to railways of other countries, and now including flight reports and hotel reviews too. While RailTravel Station sure certainly isn’t the most influential or popular travel blogs around, I’m happy with it being a local website focused on local railways and the constant international viewership daily.
And for that, thank you.
Oh, also, maybe the constant confusion of being an official source of train information and the (not appreciated) theft of content is a bit of a pat on the back as well? *shrugs*
Here’s a little recap of the new posts that came up this year, with lots of new experiences around all 10 countries of ASEAN completed in 8 months.
Click on each picture to view the post.
Philippines
1 out of 10 ASEAN Countries
Didn’t get to explore the railways in Manila during my trip there, but nonetheless, 1/10 ASEAN countries checked off the list.
Singapore
2 out of 10 ASEAN Countries
Not really a new railway, but the new Kampong Bahru Bus Terminal sits on the site of the former Royal Malaysian Customs Godown in Singapore.
Indonesia
3 out of 10 ASEAN Countries
Lots of new experiences, especially on Sumatra island – especially where there’s not much coverage on railways there.
Cambodia
4 out of 10 ASEAN Countries
Royal Railway is probably one of the most rapidly improved railways in the world, with the revived Phnom Penh – Sihanoukville service and the new Airport Shuttle Train.
Vietnam
5 out of 10 ASEAN Countries
Just a short ride to cover my missing link from Bien Hoa to Saigon, but I managed to get on board one of the new modern Chinese rakes which was a nice bonus.
Thailand
6 out of 10 ASEAN Countries
Spotted the first steam locomotive train operating with former JR West Blue Train coaches of the SRT Prestige service, as well as completing a return journey on the Northeastern Line to Nong Khai.
Malaysia
7 out of 10 ASEAN Countries
Some improvements to airport connectivity in Kuala Lumpur for this year, as well as a welcome back for old trains on regular services which was once thought retired.
Laos
8 out of 10 ASEAN Countries
Boarded the shuttle train into Laos, which is one of the shortest railways in the world based on length in the entire country.
Brunei
9 out of 10 ASEAN Countries
One of the most unique bus journeys in the world, involving 8 passport stamps for the day-long journey.
Myanmar
10 out of 10 ASEAN Countries
And last but not least, completing all ASEAN countries this year (completed in 8 months – a personal record) is the Yangon Circular Railway, which will be up on RailTravel Station soon.
Thanks for your increasing support throughout the past 500 posts in 4 years, not something that I thought would happen when I first started RailTravel Station 4 years ago. Honestly, it was just a neater place for me to put captions on pictures back then, as compared with Facebook photo albums.
Let’s hope that RailTravel Station will be able to fill up till the 1000th post and beyond with more rail journeys around the world!
Congratulations on 500 posts for a very informative and interesting website. I have been traveling around this region regularly for many years but have still picked up lots of useful information. Keep going.