Hokkaido Railway Co.’s old ‘Okhotsk’ express train gets new life in Thailand

By Hidetaka Yamamura / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

16:21 JST, September 11, 2022

BANGKOK — The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) showed local media on Tuesday the progress it has made in creating a tourist train from a refurbished Japanese rolling stock train.

The locomotive, which was Hokkaido Railway Co.’s “Okhotsk” limited express train, ran through the suburbs of Bangkok during a test. SRT spent more than half a year fixing the aged train cars, including painting them and replacing parts.

“Used Japanese train cars are of high quality and can still run for years to come,” said Gov. Nirut Maneephan. “To show the good relationship between our two countries, we have left some Japanese elements, [such as Japanese writing], inside the cars.”

While the use of older Japanese railcars is expanding in Southeast Asia, new railcars are also being introduced in line with economic growth.