Line(s) Southern Line Station code ธบ. Opened 1950 | Tracks 5 Owner State Railway of Thailand Platforms in use 2 | |
Location Rotfai Road, Siriraj Subdistrict, Bangkok Noi District, Bangkok Owned by State Railway of Thailand Address สุทธาวาส Khwaeng Siriraj, Khet Bangkok Noi, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10700, Thailand Similar Bangkok Noi District, Bangkok Noi Railway, Bang Sue Junction Railway, Taling Chan Junction, Nong Pladuk Junction | ||
Thon Buri Railway Station is a railway station in Siriraj Subdistrict, Bangkok Noi District, Bangkok. It is a class 1 railway station and is the current terminus of the Thon Buri Branch Line. Nearby the station is a railway depot which keeps five, functional steam locomotives in operation for four special occasions for them to be run. Thon Buri station is also the only station in Bangkok that has railway semaphore signals (although unused) still present on the station grounds.
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History
Originally, the station's location was at Bangkok Noi Railway Station, and opened in 1903, as a terminus for all Southern Line services. The station was the site of the 0 km mark for the Southern Line. During the Second World War, Allied bombings destroyed many facilities (as it was used as one of the Japanese logistics centres). After the war, the station was rebuilt into a concrete structure, and was named Thon Buri, and opened in 1950. Over the years, Thon Buri Station's role as a major terminal faded as most train services now terminated at Bangkok Railway Station, so only ordinary and commuter trains terminated here.
In 1999, Chuan Leekpai started a project to renovate the Thon Buri Station area, so a temporary railway station (class 4) was built at the present-day location, about 800 metres from the original location; and this station was to be called as Bangkok Noi Station. The original Thon Buri Station still opened for ticketing, but passengers must proceed to board at the temporary station. However, this plan failed to work later.
During Thaksin Shinawatra's government, trains continued services to the original Thon Buri Station for a short period. Not long afterwards, the land around the original Thon Buri railway station was handed over to the Siriraj Hospital Medical Faculty. As a result, on 4 October 2003, services to the original Thon Buri Station stopped completely. After that, the station building was handed over to Mahidol University, and all services were changed to terminate at Bangkok Noi Station. On 1 January 2004, Bangkok Noi Railway Station was renamed Thon Buri, and the station's status of a class 4 was upgraded to class 1 railway station.
Today, the original railway station building houses the Siriraj Phimukhsthan Museum, and the current railway station (formerly temporary) is the current functional railway station.