Padang Besar railway station

Last updated
Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad Logo.svg Padang Besar
Electrictrainservicelogo.png KTM Komuter logo.svg
Inter-city rail and Commuter rail station
Padang Besar KTM Platform 1 20231224 143545.jpg
Platform 1 of Padang Besar station
General information
Other namesปาดังเบซาร์ (Thai)
Location Padang Besar, Perlis
Malaysia
Operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu
Line(s) West Coast Line
Platforms4
Tracks5
Train operators
Construction
Structure typeAt-grade
ParkingAvailable, free.
AccessibleYes
History
Opened1 March 1918 (1918-03-01)
RebuiltJanuary 2013
Electrified 25 kV AC, 50 Hz
Services
Preceding station KTM Komuter logo.svg Keretapi Tanah Melayu
(Komuter)
Following station
Terminus Padang Besar–Butterworth Line Bukit Ketri
towards Butterworth
Preceding station Electrictrainservicelogo.png Keretapi Tanah Melayu (ETS)Following station
Terminus KL Sentral–Padang Besar (Express) Arau
KL Sentral–Padang Besar (Platinum)
Padang Besar–Segamat (Gold) Arau
towards Segamat
Preceding station Emblem of the State Railway of Thailand.svg State Railway of Thailand Following station
Padang Besar (Thai) Southern Line
Padang Besar Branch
Terminus
Location
Malaysia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Padang Besar
Padang Besar station in Malaysia

The Padang Besar railway station (Stesen Keretapi Padang Besar) is a railway station located at and named after the town of Padang Besar, Perlis in Malaysia which is located at the Malaysia-Thailand border.

Contents

It is the northernmost station of the west coast line and the line connects to the State Railway of Thailand's rail network via its Southern Line here.

Location

This station is located in Padang Besar, Perlis in Malaysia, about 200 metres south of the actual border between Malaysia and Thailand. This station should not be confused with another station, named Padang Besar (Thai), which is located on the Thai town of Padang Besar and fully operated by SRT. The two stations are about 400 metres apart.

Despite being in Malaysian territory, owned by Malaysia's Railway Asset Corporation and operated by KTMB, the station is served by both Malaysian and Thai railway services, allowing for passengers to transfer between the two railway systems. SRT operates a ticket office for their trains operating from the station and accept both Malaysian Ringgit and Thai Baht for ticket purchases. Malaysian and Thai immigration, customs and quarantine checkpoints are also co-located within this station specifically for cross-border train passengers.

Padang Besar railway station also has a freight yard that serves as a dry port for the northern part of Malaysia and Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle.

The station can be accessed by road which is linked to Federal Route 7 just outside Padang Besar town. The station can also be accessed via a pedestrian walkway which links the station to Padang Besar town as well as the Malaysian immigration, customs, quarantine and security checkpoint for the road border crossing. Taxis and cross-border van services to the Thai city of Hat Yai are available from the station.

Train services

Padang Besar railway station is served by trains operated by both Keretapi Tanah Melayu and the State Railway of Thailand.

Train services by Keretapi Tanah Melayu [1] serving Malaysian destinations are:

Train services by the State Railway of Thailand [2] serving destinations in Thailand are:

Besides the 3 Thai train services, there are currently[ when? ] no regular trains going across the Malaysia–Thailand border with the State Railway of Thailand's International Express no longer serving Butterworth, Malaysia and the termination of Keretapi Tanah Melayu's Senandung Langkawi and later, Ekspres Semenanjung service to Hat Yai.

KTM has introduced a seasonal Ekspres Sawadee between Kuala Lumpur and Hat Yai in October 2022, where passengers disembark at the station to go through cross-border formalities before reboarding the train for the onward journey, similar to the practice for the previous International Express and Ekspres Semenanjung. [3]

Below is the list of train services available as of 11/3/2024.

Electric Train Service (ETS)
ServiceTrain No.DepartureTowardsNote
KTM ETS 927307:30 Kuala Lumpur Sentral station
KTM ETS 927509:35 Kuala Lumpur Sentral station
KTM ETS 927713:40 Kuala Lumpur Sentral station
KTM ETS 942515:50Gemas, Negeri Sembilan
KTM ETS 927916:45 Kuala Lumpur Sentral station
Komuter (Commuter)
ServiceTrain No.DepartureTowardsNote
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 294105:20 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 294305:40 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 294506:00 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 294706:20 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 295107:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 295508:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 295910:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 296312:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 296714:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 296915:05 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 297115:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 297516:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 297917:05 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 298117:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 298518:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 298719:05 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 299119:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
KTM Komuter Northern Sector 299721:35 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang
State Railway of Thailand
ServiceTrain No.DepartureTowardsNote
ORDINARY EXPRESS94811:15 Hat Yai Junction, Songkhla
ORDINARY EXPRESS95016:40 Hat Yai Junction, Songkhla
SPECIAL EXPRESS4618:00 Krung Thep Aphiwat, Bangkok
MySawasdee (Seasonal KL-Hatyai direct service)
ServiceTrain No.ArrivalTowardsNote
MySawasdeeEXPRESS 1004Unknown Hat Yai Junction, SongkhlaSeasonal, not allowed to board from Padang Besar.
MySawasdeeEXPRESS 1005Unknown KL Sentral, Kuala LumpurSeasonal, not allowed to board from Padang Besar.

Railway border crossing

The Padang Besar railway station has Malaysia's only co-located or juxtaposed border crossing checkpoint where customs, immigration and quarantine facilities for both Malaysia and Thailand are housed inside the station which is wholly located inside Malaysia territory (200 metres south of the border).

The facilities for each country operate from separate counters inside the railway station building at the platform level. After disembarking from a train, rail passengers are processed for exiting or entering both countries by walking from one counter to the other before boarding trains travelling into the relevant countries. [4]

While the checkpoints at the station bears the same entry and exit point names as the road immigration checkpoints, the facilities in the station operates separately and is only for cross-border rail passengers. The facilities only open when Thailand trains arrive at and depart from the station, thus making clearance not possible after the last train to Bangkok departs at 6.00 pm Malaysian time.

References

  1. "KTMB Train Schedules". Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  2. "Southern Line Timetable". State Railway of Thailand. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  3. "MySawadee KTM Intercity Hat Yai Seasonal Train". RailTravel Station.
  4. "Padang Besar Railway Station – Train times & tickets". Malaysia Trains. Retrieved 11 June 2019.

6°39′48″N100°19′14″E / 6.6633°N 100.3205°E / 6.6633; 100.3205