Has anyone taken the new train to or from Bangkok on the weekend?  Was it crowded?  I just called SRT and they said fully booked on Sunday to Bangkok and 120 empty seats on Saturday.  I guess a lot of Thais are using it for a weekend trip.   It leaves at a ridiculous 6:45 AM from Bangkok.  I'm trying to decide if I should go to the station and buy a ticket in advance on Saturday or just take my chances.  

 

Google Bangkok Pattaya tourist train if you don't know about it as I can't post the link here.

 

It leaves at a ridiculous 6:45 AM from Bangkok.

It has to. If it left any later by the time it arrived here it would be time to turn round and go home.

I am a fan of clunky old SRT and enjoy a good day trip on their superannuated system as much as the next farang, but there's a limit to my appreciation when I have to be somewhere within a certain number of days, or I am charged five times the regular fare to sit among shelled sunflower seeds with hoards of Chinese tourists, and the service really isn't any faster than the regular one.

12 minutes ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

I am a fan of clunky old SRT and enjoy a good day trip on their superannuated system as much as the next farang, but there's a limit to my appreciation when I have to be somewhere within a certain number of days, or I am charged five times the regular fare to sit among shelled sunflower seeds with hoards of Chinese tourists, and the service really isn't any faster than the regular one.

Is that a review of the new weekend service?  I thought it was mostly Thais using it?

Looked like it was going to be a fun option till I saw how many stops it made .

 

 

 

I used to think that even on the worst days of traffic jams on the motorway near the airport (which Ekamai bus are not subject to) can't be worse than the 3+ hours on the train.

 

But the weekend airconditioned service seem to speed through Chachoensao and Chonburi and actual time from Bangkok (if you board somewhere like Petburi Rd  or Makkasan to Pattaya is less than 2 and a half hours for 170 Baht

 

The weekend service uses higher speed and skips through a lot of station, the weekday service leaving about the same time in the morning from Bangkok would arrive at Pattaya around 10/11 whereas the weekend service arrives in Pattaya around 9

 

If it could be run regularly, maybe three times a day it could make a dent against Rueng Reung coach for sure

On 5/17/2018 at 6:49 PM, KittenKong said:

It has to. If it left any later by the time it arrived here it would be time to turn round and go home.

Glass half empty...

 

13 hours ago, digbeth said:

I used to think that even on the worst days of traffic jams on the motorway near the airport (which Ekamai bus are not subject to) can't be worse than the 3+ hours on the train.

 

But the weekend airconditioned service seem to speed through Chachoensao and Chonburi and actual time from Bangkok (if you board somewhere like Petburi Rd  or Makkasan to Pattaya is less than 2 and a half hours for 170 Baht

 

The weekend service uses higher speed and skips through a lot of station, the weekday service leaving about the same time in the morning from Bangkok would arrive at Pattaya around 10/11 whereas the weekend service arrives in Pattaya around 9

 

If it could be run regularly, maybe three times a day it could make a dent against Rueng Reung coach for sure

Glass half full...

Off topic troll video removed