Dining Cars reintroduced on CNR Sleeper Trains

Some good news finally for people that use the Chinese-built CNR sleeper carriages to Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Nong Khai and Hat Yai. Advance Marketing Service Co., Ltd. has been awarded the contract to provide food and drink services on the eight CNR sleeper trains on four routes. The contract is for three years and it will run from 6th December 2022 to 5th December 2025.

(1) Special Express No. 9/10: Bangkok <> Chiang Mai
(2) Special Express No. 23/24: Bangkok <> Ubon Ratchathani
(3) Special Express No. 25/26: Bangkok <> Nong Khai
(4) Special Express No. 31/32: Bangkok <> Hat Yai

Bidding for the food and drink contract for ten other trains on five more routes will open in January 2023 with operation expected to then start in April 2023.

(1) Special Express No. 13/14: Bangkok <> Chiang Mai
(2) Express train No. 51/52: Bangkok <> Chiang Mai
(3) Special Express No. 37/38: Bangkok <> Sungai Kolok
(4) Express train No. 83/84: Bangkok <> Trang
(5) Express train No. 85/86: Bangkok <> Nakhon Si Thammarat

When it was first announced that the dining car was coming back we all thought that it was going to be microwave dinners. Although they don’t have the ability to cook full meals like in a restaurant, they do have rice cookers. It makes a big difference to a meal when you are eating freshly cooked rice. They have several menus. The one below is the 80 Baht meal menu. I had the Panang Curry with Chicken on the first day of service and it was excellent. I also had a bottle of water for 10 Baht and a coffee for 50 Baht.