SRT Special Excursion 909 from Bangkok Hua Lamphong to Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi & Kanchanaburi Train Review (Disrupted & Cancelled at Nakhon Pathom)

SRT Special Excursion 909 is a weekend excursion train from Bangkok Hua Lamphong to Kanchanaburi and Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi. As it has been more than 6 years since I took this excursion train trip, I decided to book another trip on this visit to Bangkok, this time on the Air-Conditioned Diesel Powered Vehicle with No Driver’s Cab (ATR62).

Bangkok Hua Lamphong Railway Station

While quiet on the outside, Bangkok Hua Lamphong Railway Station is the busiest on weekend mornings with many Excursion and Ordinary train departures.

The front entrance of Bangkok Hua Lamphong Railway Station is now open, so I used it for a proper grand entrance into the station.

The grand waiting hall at Bangkok Hua Lamphong Railway Station.

I had arrived just before 6am, and there were 4 trains about to depart – the KiHa 183 Special Excursion 943 to Phetchaburi, my Special Excursion 909 to Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi, combined with the Special Excursion 911 to Suan Son Pradipat, the weekend Rapid 997 Sprinter DMU to Pattaya and Chuk Samet, and the Ordinary 283 to Pattaya and Chuk Samet.

On hindsight, I should have booked the Rapid 997 Sprinter DMU to Chuk Samet. Sigh.

The central platforms at Bangkok Hua Lamphong Railway Station is now a living museum with old locomotives repainted and restored, and now on public display on live tracks.

KiHa 183 Special Excursion 943 to Phetchaburi

The KiHa 183 Special Excursion 943 to Phetchaburi was departing from Platform 5, behind the Davenport locomotives.

Since the KiHa 183 was still waiting for departure, I decided to pay it a visit since it was a rare opportunity to board ever since these trips are sold as expensive one-day or overnight tours. While the whole package might be worth it, everything is only conducted in Thai, so foreign tourists who don’t speak Thai will have no idea what is going on.

The new headboard on the KiHa 183 with the SRT Makkasan Train Factory facade and cherry blossoms on it.

Most of the original Okhotsk livery is kept on the KiHa 183.

There are just some subtle additions to the livery, such as this SRT logo above the coach number.

The destination sign also permanently states Limited Express Makkasan.

Much of the Japanese fittings have been kept or even reinstated, and this set still bears allegiance to Sapporo Naebo Depot.

The front end of the KiHa 183 facing Phetchaburi.

This new headboard on the KiHa 183 combines the former Okhotsk logo with the SRT Makkasan Train Factory wordings on it.

The interior of the KiHa 183 in the middle cars.

Seats are arranged in a 2+2 configuration, same as the limited express layout in Japan.

Back to reality first, and it’s time to disembark to catch my excursion train to Kanchanaburi and Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi.

The KiHa 183 Special Excursion 943 to Phetchaburi departed from Bangkok Hua Lamphong Railway Station on time at 6.10am.

Ordinary 283 to Pattaya and Chuk Samet

The Ordinary 283 to Pattaya and Chuk Samet was at Platform 8.

Special Excursion 909 to Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi

My Special Excursion 909 to Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi was departing from Platform 7.

However, the train was not here yet.

My Special Excursion 909 to Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi only arrived at the platform at 6.20am. This is a combined train with the Special Excursion 911 to Suan Son Pradipat.

Air-Conditioned Diesel Powered Vehicle with No Driver’s Cab (ATR62)

I booked myself on the Air-Conditioned Diesel Powered Vehicle with No Driver’s Cab (ATR62) so that I get air-conditioned comfort on what was supposed to be a full day out of Bangkok.

There is just 1 ATR attached on the Special Excursion 909, designated as Car 2.

Boarding my booked Car 2.

The interior of the Air-Conditioned Diesel Powered Vehicle with No Driver’s Cab (ATR62). Seats are laid out in a 2+2 configuration in a fixed forward or reverse direction.

I booked Seat 48 which was a window seat.

The legroom on board the Air-Conditioned Diesel Powered Vehicle with No Driver’s Cab (ATR62).

The windows on the Air-Conditioned Diesel Powered Vehicle with No Driver’s Cab (ATR62) are heavily tinted, which did not offer much of a view out when the sun had not rose yet.

A sitting toilet is available on board the Air-Conditioned Diesel Powered Vehicle with No Driver’s Cab (ATR62).

The rest of the train is made up of NKF and THN railcars. Car 1 was an NKF with hard plastic seats, and Cars 3 and 4 were THNs with cushioned seats.

The ideal seats are in the bays of 4. However, legroom is tight on board the NKF and THN railcars.

My tickets for the Special Excursion 909 from Bangkok Hua Lamphong to Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi. The full day trip costs only 240 Baht in the air-conditioned car.

My Special Excursion 909 and 911 departed from Bangkok Hua Lamphong Railway Station at 6.40am – 10 minutes delayed.

Tickets are checked upon departure from Bangkok Hua Lamphong Railway Station.

Phototaking out of the tinted windows was not ideal even as the sun rose.

Turning left on to the Southern Line after Bang Sue Junction.

The ride was violently bumpy at every stop the train made, and I sensed something was wrong when my Special Excursion 909 and 911 made an unscheduled stop at Bang Son Railway Station.

Hawkers had boarded the Special Excursion 909 and 911 from Bang Sue Junction, so it was convenient to get breakfast if needed.

I bought a Kway Teow for 10 Baht as a light snack before planning to buy breakfast in Nakhon Pathom.

Along the way to Nakhon Pathom, a train staff gave a commentary about Nakhon Pathom in Thai, including things to do and eat in the short stopover there.

With the sun out, the tinted windows still showed darkness and blurness.

Arriving in Nakhon Pathom Railway Station.

Nakhon Pathom Railway Station

There is a scheduled 45 minutes stop at Nakhon Pathom Railway Station. While the Special Excursion 909 and 911 was slightly delayed, the stop still lasted for 45 minutes.

Passengers could roam around freely in the town during this stopover.

The streets were quite crowded for this Saturday morning.

Many cheap street food options are available at local prices. I got some sticks for breakfast.

There is also a 7-Eleven conveniently located right in front of the station and with the street food.

The landmark of Nakhon Pathom is Phra Pathom Chedi, the tallest stupa in the world at 120.45 meters tall and with a base circumference of 235.5 meters.

I got back to Nakhon Pathom Railway Station in good time after buying some drinks for the journey.

The combined Special Excursion 909 and 911 at Nakhon Pathom.

The Special Excursion 911 is scheduled to split with my Special Excursion 909 at Nong Pla Duk Junction.

The ATR attached on the Special Excursion 911 has newer seats which look more comfortable.

Some commotion was made in Thai which I was oblivious to, still eating my breakfast in my seat. A kind seat neighbour told me that the train was broken down and everyone needed to change trains.

I grabbed all my belongings and detrained with all passengers.

Looks like the issue was with my coach itself, with one of the wheels on the rear bogie not turning at all.  That would explain the violent bumps occurring at all stops since departing from Bangkok Hua Lamphong.

This was not an ideal detrainment stop as Nakhon Pathom currently has only 1 line in use, with the other 2 lines out of service for the double-track project. Combined with the 45-minutes scheduled stop, this caused chaos on the Southern Line.

My Special Excursion 909 then departed to the east of the station slowly.

The 2 trains were uncoupled here, and Special Excursion 911 was on its own now.

The Special Excursion 911 reversed west of Nakhon Pathom Railway Station first to clear the stuck Special Express 38 and 46 heading to Bangkok Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal.

The Special Excursion 911 then re-entered the station like a regular train with a short stop, and proceeded on to Suan Son Pradipat.

Next in was the Special Express 43 bound for Hua Hin and Surat Thani.

Some bad news was delivered over the speaker, saying that the replacement Special Excursion 909 train would be be arriving at around 11am, with grunts from everyone from the platform.

My worry was that with the almost 3-hour delay already, SRT would still give passengers a 3-hour stop at Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi, causing me to return to Bangkok extremely late at night.

As such, I decided to approach the ticket counter to try to cancel my tickets for a refund.

There were conditions set out for refund percentages, but I proceeded to try asking for a refund instead.

Refund

With the known long delay, a refund was granted without further questions, though because I paid with a credit card online, my refund would only be back in my card 45 to 60 days from the day of refund. But that was fine, better than burning the entire cost of the trip.

I decided to cut my time losses and returned back to Bangkok with the next train instead.

Conclusion

It’s unfortunate and frustrating to cancel a whole train trip like this, however, I decided that it was probably a good decision as I would be spending potentially 16 hours on this one-day trip, and the return leg would have been in darkness anyway.

The no-questions-asked refund process at Nakhon Pathom is to be commended, with the counter staff even apologising for the disruption.

And true enough, based on TTS, the excursion train did stop at Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi for 2 hours and 15 minutes, not the full 3 hours, and the return 910 train trip even skipped the Kanchanaburi stopover, so I wouldn’t have the full experience anyway. The train got back to Bangkok Hua Lamphong at 9.45pm, a total delay of 2 hours and 15 minutes after reducing the time at Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi and skipping Kanchanaburi.

I probably made a good decision to return back to Bangkok to spend some time at Thonburi instead and eat more Thai food before starting my journey back to Singapore the next day.

Hopefully I’ll be able to repeat this trip some time this year, without experiencing a major delay again.