As Thailand eyes China-linked high-speed future, Bangkok’s historic Hua Lumphong railway station reaches end of the line

The 105-year-old station, designed by Italian architects and beloved for its faded majesty in a city smothered by high-rises, now faces redevelopment

Campaigners fear for the landmark’s future as a US$4.8 billion replacement, built with a planned high-speed rail link to Laos and China in mind, comes online

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A century-old steam locomotive leaves for Ayutthaya from Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong railway station earlier this month. Photo: EPA

Published: 9:00am, 22 Dec 2021Updated: 7:42pm, 24 Dec 2021

For decades, Bangkok’s stately Hua Lumphong terminus has welcomed workers into Thailand’s capital – and served as a jumping-off point for many a backpacker’s Thai adventure. But the 105-year-old transit hub’s links with much of the rest of the country will soon be severed, as services shift to a gleaming new US$4.8 billion railway station across town.

Bang Sue Grand Station, with 26 platforms and more than 270,000 square metres (2.95 million sq ft) of usable floor space, has been touted as Southeast Asia’s largest railway station – built with a planned high-speed rail link to Laos and China in mind.

It was set to replace Hua Lumphong as the terminus for all long-distance rail services to Bangkok as early as this week, before an eleventh-hour reprieve from the authorities extended the venerable old station’s commissioned life until after the new year – traditionally a busy travel period on Thailand’s railways.

The State Railway of Thailand (SRT), which operates Hua Lumphong, insists the main building – built in 1916 to designs by Italian architects commissioned by King Rama V, the well-travelled modernising monarch who brought European governance ideas, design and technology to Thailand – will remain in some form.

With its renaissance revival columns, grand atrium and stained glass windows, Hua Lumphong is much beloved in Bangkok for bringing a certain faded majesty to a city smothered by unimaginative high-rises, condominium blocks and shopping malls that pour towards the river from Silom and Sukhumvit Road.

Vast areas of railway sidings and adjoining land around the station have been earmarked for sale to developers by SRT, in the hopes of paring down the state-owned rail operator’s debts that total some 190 billion baht (US$5.68 billion).