Train Guide to Cambodia
There are two railway lines in Cambodia that link to the capital Phnom Penh with a total length of 650 kilometers. The Northern Line has a length of 386 km from Phnom Penh to Poi Pet (Cambodia-Thailand border). The Southern Line has a total length of 264 kilometers from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville. Both lines were severely damaged during the war but now have a daily service again. However, the section from the Thai border in Poi Pet to Battambang is not operating at the moment.
<< Search for travel ticket options for Cambodia on 12Go >>
I am planning on riding the trains in Cambodia during March/April 2023. These are the notes for my trip there. I will update with firsthand experience and my own photos once I have come back from the trip. I will be taking the train from Bangkok to the border and then bus to Battambang where I will catch the train to the capital. If you have any tips for me, please post them in the comments below. Thanks!
ROUTE MAP
NORTHERN LINE
Northern Line trains go from Phnom Penh to Battambang. Trains depart daily at 6:40 a.m. and arrive at 1:00 p.m. It takes six hours and twenty minutes. The return journey from Battambang is at 3:00 p.m. Tickets cost $8.00.
SOUTHERN LINE
Southern Line trains depart from Phnom Penh daily at 7:00 a.m. and arrive in Sihanoukville about five hours and forty minutes later. The arrival times and ticket prices for the major stops are as follows: Takeo (arrives 8:40 a.m. $6.00), Kep (10:30 a.m. $8.00), Kampot (10:40 a.m. $9.00), and Sihanoukville (12:40 p.m. $10.00).
Tickets can be bought online on the official Royal Railway Cambodia website.
TIMETABLE
This is the latest timetable for January 2023. Source is the Facebook page of Royal Railway Cambodia.
USEFUL LINKS
- Royal Railway Cambodia website
- Royal Railway Facebook Page
- Online tickets
- Facebook Group for Cambodian Trains
REVIEWS ON TWITTER
The following are a few pictures posted on Twitter by my friend Nonstop Eurotrip during his visit there in September 2022. Don’t forget to also check out his excellent YouTube channel.
I’ve been looking at using the railway between Battambang and Phnom Penh. But I’m struggling for information on tickets.
Royal-railway dot com (linked in your site above) now brings up a gambling site at that URL.
Royal-railway dot easybook dot com brings up a 404 error.
The Facebook page is there but so filled with multiple daily self congratulatory posts you can’t find any useful info.
Am I missing something or has something gone badly wrong with the Cambodian railway’s web presence?
Let me check. Thanks for the heads up.
Those who endure the bumpy 7 hour journey from Battambang to Phnom Penh today have no idea how lucky they are.
I did Poipet _> Sisophon -> Battambang and Battambang -> Pursat -> Phnom Penh around 1998. At that time, you needed to check early morning whether a train was expected to depart that day. For Poipet to Battambang, the train ran most days when the bridges were deemed useable. Battambang to Phnom Penh was not daily, but usually there was a train every second day. This latter trip varied greatly in duration, but around 20 hours was average. To say the carriages were basic is like saying a capsule hotel is not spacious. It was very bumpy, but the people riding on the top of the train could still easily stay on as the train rarely exceeded 20 kph. The fares were ridiculously cheap, as I recall less than US$1.00. It was an experience.