International Railroad Discussion > It's a Holiday in Cambodia!

At the completion of the tour of Vietnam, we traveled by boat up the mighty Mekong River to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia has two passenger trains both of which depart early in the morning from Phnom Penh and each returns in mid to late evening. My only chance to witness these trains in daylight was to get up before the crack of dawn and make the approximate one-mile walk from the hotel to the train station. And if I had had a free day in Phnom Penh I would have loved to ride one of these trains out and back. I had no idea what I would see much less whether there would be access and photography allowed. Herewith are the results. Cambodia is a kingdom so the railway is known as the Royal Railway.

1. I have no idea what an AS-1001 is but I will guess home built. This is the 7:00 AM train to the coastal town of Sihanoukville which is a six-hour journey southwest from Phnom Penh. This paint scheme is similar to that seen on the fleet of Cambodian diesel locomotives that I have seen pictures of.

2. A view showing the quite large and attractive train station. When I arrived and tried to go in the front I was waved around the side to the back. Those seemingly few characters on the building say Phnom Penh.

3. A broadside view showing the perfect symmetry of the rail diesel car.

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4. And this is the 6:40 AM train to Battambang consisting of a rail diesel car (RDC) and a trailer. Here we have kept the yellow and blue but we have shades of pink and purple instead of red. Battambang is a town in the center of the northwest part of Cambodia and northwest of Phnom Penh. The outbound trip is scheduled for 6 hours, 20 minutes, and the return trip is 7 hours.

5. I have to include this image because this is the one that got me yelled at for crossing the tracks. Of course there was no danger whatsoever on these long disused tracks. We ended on good terms though because he later handed me a timetable which was much appreciated.

6. A roster shot of the RDC end of the train. Okay, I got more than one shot off before getting yelled at. Neither train had any lettering indicating the railway or operator.

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As interesting as the in-service trains were, there was more passenger equipment stored on the adjacent platform. They were higher capacity and potentially newer than what was in use. The paint scheme bore no resemblance to anything.

7. This train was presumably used at one time as the train to Battambang on the northern line as indicated by the sign on the front. Or given how clean it appears, was it acquired and not used?

8. The other end of the string equipment. Nothing but a number visible here.

9. This longer set of cars is marked as the train for Sihanoukville on the southern line.

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10. Included in the longer trainset was this lounge car with large windows similar to an Amtrak lounge car.

11. And in case there was any confusion we have this helpful sign. I kind of like the squiggly character set.

12. A little farther over and in an area where I was not allowed access beyond where I was, was this vintage carriage. Business car? Sleeping car? Beyond that was a possible RDC in traditional colors.

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13. And one more stored passenger car that looks a lot like an observation car, again in traditional colors.

14. And what Friday would be complete without some freight cars, at least maintenance-of-way cars, a string of ballast cars and a string of tank cars. All those tracks suggest that there was more rail activity here at some point in the past.

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There were two steam engines in the vicinity of the station, one still on "active" trackage and one stuffed and mounted. Both were in good cosmetic condition.

15. A nice 4-6-2 on 'live' trackage. According to Google, it says Cambodia on the cab.

16. And a 2-6-2 on display nearby.

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And finally, here is the timetable for the Cambodian Royal Railway. Note that the prices are given in US dollars because that is the primary currency used in Cambodia even though Cambodia has the riel. The conversion is approximately 4000 riel to the dollar. There is no US coinage in circulation so change less than a dollar is given in riel. For example, a 100 riel note is worth 2.5 cents US. A 1000 riel note is a quarter. For $20 round trip to Sihanoukville and $16 round trip to Battambang, I would love to have experienced that.

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NMlurker Wrote:
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> 7. This train was presumably used at one time as
> the train to Battambang on the northern line as
> indicated by the sign on the front. Or given how
> clean it appears, was it acquired and not used?
>
> 8. The other end of the string equipment. Nothing
> but a number visible here.
>
> 9. This longer set of cars is marked as the train
> for Sihanoukville on the southern line.

How interesting, they look Japanese, I saw similar DMUs in Myanmar in 2017, they were ex-JNR KiHa type re-gauged from 3'6" to 1 metre.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/25 23:56 by 86235.

Thanks for sharing the photos of a rarely seen railway!

(and thanks for getting the DKs in my head!)

Another narrow gauge country. I imagine it is smaller than 1,000mm.
Interesting locomotives and cars.
Thanks for share the pictures with us.

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Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

Cool, I didn't know Cambodia had a passanger rail system.  Or any operating rail at all.  The line to the coast looks like it has interesting scenery.  

Maps: 
https://mapy.com/en/zakladni?x=103.5021235&y=11.9503236&z=8
https://openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=10.741572454818735&lon=103.37585449218749&zoom=7
https://opentopomap.org/#map=9/11.0625/104.1476

Ted in OR

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