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New Bangkok-Pattaya train service hopes to lure more day trippers
A new weekend rail service linking Bangkok with the coastal city of Pattaya will roll out next month aiming to lure more day trippers.
There is an existing midweek rail service but the schedule is not feasible for a day trip, even though it is just 150km southeast of Bangkok.
"The timing makes it impossible for a one-day trip. Hardly any tourists get on it," says Oratai Suwannatas, tourism marketing executive at the State Railway of Thailand.
That will hopefully change with the new service launching in mid-to-late March.
It will operate weekends on a trail six month run with a view to extending it indefinitely.
It will depart from Bangkok at 6:30am arriving in Pattaya at 9:00am, and returning to the capital at 3:50pm.
The new service will cut journey current time by an hour each way and unlike the current service will feature air-conditioned carriages.
"This is to accommodate both Thai and foreign tourists planning for one-day or weekend trips in Pattaya," Oratai said.
Meanwhile the Thai transport ministry said that Japan is still keen to invest in a proposed Bangkok-Chiang Mai high speed train project despite media reports that Japan had cooled its interest.
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