Chiang Mai will be the first destination city to experience the modern, new carriages designed for the express trains when they are brought into service on the northern route in early November.
State Railway of Thailand governor Wutthichart Kallayanamitr said on Wednesday that the first fleet of carriages will inaugurated on the express train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in early November.
"The new carriages will totally change our entire look and service," he told Chulalongkorn University radio. "Even the toilets will be closed system," he added.
The SRT has purchased 115 new cars made by China CNR Corp as part of a 176 billion baht expenditure fund earmarked by the government to improve rail services and tracks.
A new restaurant car on the express trains. (State Railway of Thailand photo)
The new cars include nine first-class sleeping berths, 88 second-class sleeping carriages -- nine of them with facilities for the disabled -- nine restaurant cars and nine power cars to feed electricity to other carriages.
The first shipment of 13 cars was originally planned for Sunday, but the delivery has been delayed by storms. The carriages will arrive later this month, with the rest to be sent to Thailand by November, an SRT statement said.
After the launch of the Chiang Mai service, the new express carriages will gradually replace all of the old ones used on the lines from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani, Nong Khai and Butterworth in Malaysia by the end of the fiscal year next year, Mr Wutthichart said.
"All of the old express train carriages will be eventually retired once all of the new ones are in service," he added.
The new cars are an attempt by the loss-ridden train agency to keep passengers in the face of competition from low-cost airlines on long distance routes which offer competitive ticket prices and a quicker trip.
The SRT is expanding to double tracks which will cut travelling time as trains can run faster. A trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai will be cut by at least 90 minutes to three hours, according to the governor.