Khun Tan railway station

Khun Tan Railway Station สถานีรถไฟขุนตาน
General information
Location	Tha Pladuk Subdistrict, Mae Tha District, Lamphun
Operated by	State Railway of Thailand
Line(s)	Northern Line
Platforms	5
Tracks	3
Other information
Station code	KHT
Services
Preceding station   State Railway of Thailand   Following station Template:SRT stations toward Template:SRT stations Template:SRT lines Template:SRT stations toward Template:SRT stations

Khun Tan Railway Station is a railway station on the Northern Line located in Lamphun. It is operated by the State Railway of Thailand, and is 683.14 kilometres from Bangkok Railway Station. Khun Tan Railway Station is located in Tha Pladuk Subdistrict, Mae Tha District.

Khun Tan Railway Station is the highest railway station in Thailand, situated at 578 metres above sea level. Around the railway station is the Doi Khuntan National Park, which has bungalows run by the State Railway of Thailand, for visitors' use as well.

Khun Tan Tunnel

Khun Tan Tunnel

Located just 200 metres away from Khun Tan Railway Station, is the Khun Tan Tunnel. This tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in Thailand, the whole tunnel being 1352.10 metres in length. The construction project took 11 years at a cost of 1.3 million baht and was finished in 1918.

History

The railway route to Chiang Mai had been designed to avoid the Khun Tan Mountains, a barrier between Lampang and Lamphun. However, Khun Tan Tunnel was built for economical convenience for trade between the northern area provinces and the central area provinces. So surveys for the tunnel route was started in 1905.

After 2 years, construction began in 1907. First, base pins were set up at a level behind the mountain aligned with the tunnel route so that the mountain could be exploded to the width needed. Then air compressors were used to drill through the mountain. If these air compressors broke down, then metal chisels were hammered into the rock, explosives inserted and then the rock was blasted to make way for track-laying.

The tunnel was finished in 1918 and remains in daily use today.

Train Services

• Nakhon Phing Express 1/2 Bangkok-Chiang Mai-Bangkok
• Super Express 13/14 Bangkok-Chiang Mai-Bangkok
• Express 51/52 Bangkok-Chiang Mai-Bangkok
• Rapid 109 Bangkok-Chiang Mai
• Rapid 102 Chiang Mai-Bangkok
• Local 407/408 Nakhon Sawan-Chiang Mai-Nakhon Sawan

References

http://portal.rotfaithai.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=321

http://www.rd.go.th/lamphun/61.0.html

http://www.railway.co.th/intranet/srt/civil/wwwroot/Khuntan.html

http://www.tapladuk.go.th/phocadownload/data/kuntan.pdf