Bangkok railway station

The station is officially referred to by the State Railway of Thailand as Sathani Rotfai Krung Thep (สถานีรถไฟกรุงเทพ) in Thai (Krung Thep is the transliteration of the common Thai language name of Bangkok) and Bangkok Station in English.[1] Hua Lamphong (Thai: หัวลำโพง) is the informal name of the station, used by both foreign travellers and locals. The station is often named as Hua Lamphong in travel guide books and in the public press.[2]

In other areas of Thailand the station is commonly referred to as Krungthep Station, and the name Hua Lamphong is not well-known. In all documents published by the State Railway of Thailand (such as train tickets, timetables, and tour pamphlets) the station is uniformly transcribed as Krungthep (กรุงเทพ) in Thai.[1]

Actually, the name "Hua Lamphong" is the name of both canal and road (now Rama IV Road) that used to pass near this station. The word Hua Lamphong, some say originated from the green plains surrounding the area in the past. That were used to rear cattle of the Muslim community, when the poeple saw the cattle running vigorously in the plains, it was named the Thung Wua Lamphong ("swaggering bulls plains"), eventually being called Hua Lamphong.[3] Others presumed that the name originated from a species of plant called Lamphong (Datura metel) which is a plant that has toxic effects, that used to grow abundantly in that area.[4]

It is also proposed that the name may have a Malay origin as a mixture of Khua in Thai, meaning "bridge", and the word Lamphung in Malay (pronounced Lumphung) meaning "temporary". Loi Khua Lumphung meaning a temporary bridge (across or floating in the river) then become known as Hua Lamphong by the Thais.[5]

Actually, Hua Lamphong railway station was an another railway station of private Paknam Railway Line which operated aforetime of founded of the Royal Siamese Railway Department (now the State Railway of Thailand). Hua Lamphong railway station was located opposite present Bangkok railway station, opened in 1893 and closed in 1960 simultaneously with divestment of Paknam Railway Line. The location of the demolished Hua Lamphong railway station presents Rama IV Road and there is Hua Lamphong MRT Station on the MRT Blue Line locates underneath.

Bangkok railway station before 1970

The station was opened on 25 June 1916 after six years of construction that started in 1910 in the reign of King Chulalongkorn and finished in the reign of King Vajiravudh. The site of the railway station was previously occupied by the national railway's maintenance centre, which moved to Makkasan in June 1910. At the nearby site of the previous railway station a pillar commemorates the inauguration of the Thai railway network in 1897.

The station was built in an Italian Neo-Renaissance-style, with decorated wooden roofs and stained glass windows, with the Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof in Germany as a prototype. The front of the building was designed by Turin-born Mario Tamagno,[6] who with countryman Annibale Rigotti (1870–1968) was also responsible for the design of several other early 20th century public buildings in Bangkok. The pair designed Bang Khun Phrom Palace (1906), Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in the Royal Plaza (1907–15) and Suan Kularb Residential Hall and Throne Hall in Dusit Garden, among other buildings.

In the first period of operation, it was a combined railway station, that is, it included the services to transport goods and also at the same time. The transportation of passengers when there was an increase of both the transportation of goods and passengers as well, due to the limited area surrounding the railway station which encompassed 120 rai (48 acers), further expansion was not possible, this also was due to the traffic situation around the station, due to these factors the transportation of goods sector was shifted to the Phahonyothin area since 1960.[7]

There are 12 platforms, 22 ticket counters, and two electric display boards. Hua Lamphong serves over 130 trains and approximately 60,000 passengers each day. Since 2004 the station has been connected by an underground passage to the MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transit) subway system's Hua Lamphong MRT Station.

The station is also a terminus of the Eastern and Oriental Express luxury trains,[8] and the International Express to Malaysia.[9]

On 25 June 2019, the 103rd anniversary of Hua Lamphong was celebrated with a Google Doodle.[10]

The station is scheduled to be closed for being main railway station in 2021, when it will be converted into a museum. The station will change its official name to Hua Lamphong station. The State Railway of Thailand plans to move Bangkok's central station to Bang Sue Grand Station.[11][12]

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  JNR Class C56 16 (SRT 714) Preserved in Bangkok Railway Station
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  The main façade of the station
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  Station sign, Hua Lamphong
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  Hua Lamphong, interior view (Aug 2013)
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  Platforms, Hua Lamphong
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  Directory map
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  An entrance to the Hua Lamphong Station of the underground MRT
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  Underground pathway to MRT Station
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  Washing a train at Hua Lamphong
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  Hua Lamphong Railway Station Main Hall
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  King Rama V portrait at Main Hall
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  tow view of Hua Lamphong Railway Station

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bangkok Railway Station.

• Hua Lamphong MRT Station

• รายงานกองบัญชาการครั้งที่ 20 กล่าวด้วยการเดินรถไฟหลวงทางขนาดใหญ่ในกรุงสยามประจำพระพุทธศักราช 2459 (ปิคฤศต์ศักราช 1916-17), กรมรถไฟหลวง, โรงพิมพ์กรมรถไฟ, 2460 (Stored in National Archives of Thailand)
• งานฉลอง 50ปี กรมรถไฟหลวง, กรมรถไฟหลวง, โรงพิมพ์กรมรถไฟ, 2490