The Paknam Railway was

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

's first railway line, established in 1893. Stretching 21 km (13 mi), it was a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

line. The line was constructed by the Paknam Railway Company established by a British navigator Alfred John Loftus and the Danish naval commander Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu. Construction commenced on 10 July 1891. The company was granted a 20-year concession to run the line. The opening of the railway on 11 April 1893 was attended by

King Rama V Chulalongkorn ( th, จุฬาลงกรณ์, 20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910) was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, titled Rama V. He was known to the Siamese of his time as ''Phra Phuttha Chao Luang'' (พร� ...

who had in fact invested half of the 400,000 Baht funding required for construction of the line. Initially there were four steam locomotives constructed by Krauss & Co. of Munich, and four trains ran in each direction daily. There were twelve stations in all, with trains taking one hour to travel over the line. The line was initially a financial success. A motor-tramway service was introduced in 1908 and the line was electrified in 1926. After the end of the concession period, the line was purchased outright by the government in 1936 but there was little further investment in the line. By this time competition from buses running between Bangkok and Paknam was already impacting the railway's finances. During World War II the railway enjoyed a resurgence due to the impact of fuel shortages on the bus companies. Services were temporarily suspended in 1942 due to record flooding in Bangkok but services were restored soon after with twelve trips daily. After the end of World War II competition with buses and private cars again increased and by the 1950s the railway was operating at a loss. Several plans for modernisation were proposed but none were realised. In the end the Paknam Railway was closed at the end of 1959 to allow for the construction of

Rama IV Road Rama IV Road ( th, ถนนพระรามที่ 4, ; usually shortened to , ) is a main road in Bangkok, Thailand. It starts at Mo Mi Junction in the area of Bangkok's Chinatown in Samphanthawong and Pom Prap Sattru Phai Districts and ...

References

History of rail transport in Thailand Rail transport in Thailand Rail transport in Bangkok {{Thailand-rail-transport-stub

See also

References