Khun Tan Railway Station

Khun Tan Railway Station
สถานีรถไฟขุนตาน
Location Tha Pladuk Subdistrict, Mae Tha District, Lamphun
Operated by State Railway of Thailand
Line(s) Northern Line
Platforms 3
Tracks 3
Other information
Station code ขน.
Services
Preceding station   State Railway of Thailand   Following station
toward Hua Lamphong
Northern Line
toward Chiang Mai

Khun Tan Railway Station is a railway station on the Northern Line located in Lamphun Province, Thailand. It is operated by the State Railway of Thailand, and is 683.14 km (424.5 mi) from Bangkok Railway Station. Khun Tan Railway Station is in the Tha Pladuk Subdistrict, Mae Tha District.

Khun Tan Railway Station is the highest railway station in Thailand, at 578 metres (1,896 ft 4 in) above sea level. Around the railway station is the Doi Khuntan National Park, the reason the station exists, which has bungalows run by the State Railway of Thailand, for visitors' use as well.

Khun Tan tunnel

Khun Tan Tunnel

Two hundred metres from Khun Tan Railway Station, is the Khun Tan Tunnel. It is the longest railway tunnel in Thailand, at 1,352.1 metres (4,436 ft 0 in) in length. Construction took 11 years at a cost of 1.3 million baht. It was finished in 1918.

History

The railway route Bangkok–Chiang Mai had been designed to avoid the Khun Tan Mountains, a barrier between Lampang and Lamphun. The tunnel was built ease trade barriers between the northern and central provinces. Surveys for the tunnel route were started in 1905. Construction began in 1907. First, base pins were set up at a level behind the mountain aligned with the tunnel route so that the tunnel could be blasted 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.

Train services

References

    Coordinates: 18°30′02″N 99°15′55″E / 18.5005°N 99.2652°E / 18.5005; 99.2652

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