Hat Yai Junction railway station

Hat Yai Junction
สถานีรถไฟชุมทางหาดใหญ่
Hat Yai Junction ; สถานีรถไฟชุมทางหาดใหญ่
	Hat Yai Junction railway station in 2009.
Location	Rotfai Road, Hat Yai Subdistrict, Hat Yai City, Songkhla
Owned by	State Railway of Thailand
Operated by	State Railway of Thailand
Line(s)	SRT Southern Line
Platforms	6
Construction
Parking	Yes
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	หใ.
History
Previous names	U-Taphao Junction
Services

Hat Yai Junction is an international railway junction and a Class 1 railway station for the State Railway of Thailand in the center of Hat Yai City, Songkhla Province, Thailand. The station is located 928.585 km (577.0 mi) from Bangkok's Thon Buri railway station and serves as a junction for the mainline Southern Line towards Pattani, Yala and Sungai Kolok (border point with Malaysia at Rantau Panjang) and the Butterworth, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore Line (border point with Malaysia at Padang Besar). The station also includes a large locomotive depot adjacent to the station.

Hat Yai Junction encouraged Hat Yai's economic boom and growth, making the city larger than the province's capital Songkhla.

History[]

Originally, the station was named U-Taphao Junction and was located to the north of the current station. The old station also served as a junction for the Hat Yai-Songkhla Line. However, the junction often got hit by floods and was moved to the present location at Hat Yai Junction. In 1978, the line from Hat Yai to Songkhla City closed down, leaving the junction to be only for the mainline to Sungai-Kolok and the branch to Butterworth.

Since the start of 2013, there have been plans to rebuild the line back to Songkhla City.

Services[]

There are 24 trains serving Hat Yai Junction daily, 12 each way. All types of trains must stop at this station. The trains are of the following:

Special Express 31 Bangkok-Hat Yai Junction
Special Express 32 Hat Yai Junction-Bangkok
Special Express 37 Bangkok-Sungai Kolok
Special Express 45 Bangkok-Padang Besar
Special Express 38 Sungai Kolok-Bangkok
Special Express 46 Padang Besar-Bangkok
Special Express 41 Bangkok-Yala
Special Express 42 Yala-Bangkok
Rapid 169 Bangkok-Yala
Rapid 170 Yala-Bangkok
Rapid 171 Bangkok-Sungai Kolok
Rapid 172 Sungai Kolok-Bangkok
Rapid 175 Hat Yai-Sungai Kolok
Rapid 176 Sungai Kolok-Hat Yai
Local 445 Chumphon-Hat Yai
Local 446 Hat Yai-Chumphon
Local 447 Surat Thani-Sungai Kolok
Local 448 Sungai Kolok-Surat Thani
Local 451 Nakhon Sri Thammarat-Sungai Kolok
Local 452 Sungai Kolok-Nakhon Sri Thammarat
Local 455 Nakhon Sri Thammarat-Yala
Local 456 Yala-Nakhon Sri Thamamarat
Local 463 Phatthalung-Sungai Kolok
Local 464 Sungai Kolok-Phathalung
Eastern and Oriental Express 974 Bangkok-Singapore
Eastern and Oriental Express 975 Singapore-Bangkok
Special Cross-Border Service 947 Hat Yai Junction-Padang Besar
Special Cross-Border Service 948 Padang Besar-Hat Yai Junction
Special Cross-Border Service 949 Hat Yai Junction-Padang Besar
Special Cross-Border Service 950 Padang Besar-Hat Yai Junction

Terrorist attacks[]

Hat Yai Junction has been a target for the "Land Separation Movement" (South Thailand insurgency).

29 June 1977 - Bomb, 14 injured^{[citation needed]}
7 August 1977 - Bomb on Hat Yai-Bangkok Train^{[citation needed]}
1989 - 2 Bombs, 7 dead^{[citation needed]}
7 May 2001 - Bomb, 4 dead including a 5-year-old boy.

Pop culture[]

Hat Yai Junction railway station is the setting of at least 2 Thai pops, including (Thai: สัญญาใจ; RTGS: sanya jai) 'Love Promise') by Narathip Kanchanawat of Chatree band, it has been popular since 1980, with new recordings by many performers, and Thai protest song (phleng phuea chiwit), titled (Thai: คำสัญญาที่หาดใหญ่; RTGS: kam sanya thi hat yai) 'Promise at Hat Yai') by Jew Khonkhianphleng in 1994.

Sources[]

State Railway of Thailand^{[full citation needed]}
rotfaithai.com^{[full citation needed]}
Thai Post^{[dead link]}^{[full citation needed]}
TJANEWS^{[dead link]}^{[full citation needed]}

Coordinates: 7°00′14″N 100°28′03″E / 7.00389°N 100.46750°E / 7.00389; 100.46750