There used to be the day when I would advise people not to take overnight buses in Thailand but to go by train. These are generally safer and have the added advantage that you can get up and walk around. But the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) hasn’t had a good year so far. The Northern Line in particular has had numerous problems with their tracks with one derailment after another. In fact, we have had so many derailments this year that I am starting to lose count. I think we are now up to 15 or 16? The last one was early this morning and then another one yesterday.

Most of the derailments have taken place between Lampang and Phrae in Northern Thailand. The SRT have recently announced that they will close this stretch of railway for 45 days in order to reinforce the tracks and sleepers that have suffered from land erosion. This is expected to take place between 16th September and 31st October. During this time, there will be no trains running between Sila-at station in Phrae’s Den Chai district and Chiang Mai. Trains from Bangkok will still head north, but you will have to change to a free shuttle bus at Sila-at Station in order to continue your journey to Chiang Mai.

During this period, you might want to think twice about taking a night train to Chiang Mai. This usually arrives early in the morning, but due to line closure, you will be woken up even earlier while its still dark to change to a bus. You might want to consider taking a bus or airplane to Chiang Mai instead. However, I would advise breaking up your journey by visiting places like Lopburi, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok and Lampang along the way.

UPDATE: The express trains leaving Bangkok at 6.10pm and at 7.35pm are cancelled until the repairs are complete due to the inconvenient arrival time. Express train No. 9 leaving Bangkok at 8:30am for Chiang Mai, rapid train No. 109 leaving at 12.45pm, and express train No. 51 leaving at 10pm all now terminate at Sila-art. All trains are expected to resume normal service on 1st November 2013.