If you want to travel from Padang Besar to the islands of Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, you can take the train from Padang Besar to Surat Thani, then transfer by bus to the ferry ports for boats over to the islands.
Train number 46 Departs Padang Besar at 17:00 Thai time (18:00 Malaysian time) - arriving in Surat Thani at 23:25 Thai time.
When this train leaves Pdg. Besar, there are only a couple of carriages.
When it arrives at Hat Yai Junction Railway Station, it is connected to train number 38.
If you want to check for the latest departure times, or see the timetable in the opposite direction from Surat Thani to Padang Besar:
Please visit the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) timetable page here >
To connect to train number 46 from destinations within Malaysia, you can:
1) Take a long distance ETS train from places like KL Sentral in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh etc >
2) For shorter distance in the states of Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak (Butterworth Penang, Taiping. BM, SP, Alor Setar, Arau - for Langkawi ferry connections:
You can take the cheap KTM Komuter trains to the border at Padang Besar >
The ticket price (harga tiket) / fare (tambang) for train 46 to Surat Thani is:
Adult Ticket:
Upper Bed / Berth = 632 Thai Baht
Upper Bed / Berth = 722 Thai Baht
Child Ticket:
Upper Bed / Berth = 561 Thai Baht
Upper Bed / Berth = 651 Thai Baht
The lower berths are quite a bit wider than the upper berths and so are much more comfortable.
They do however, tend to sell out quite quickly so book as far in advance as you can to get one.
The only place you can buy tickets for this train from inside Malaysia, is the SRT office located between platforms 1 and 2 at Padang Besar Railway Station.
The office opens only an hour or so before the afternoon Shuttle train to Hatyai departs.
If you are travelling during the high season (November to March and around Songkran in April), we highly recommend that you do not just turn up at Pdg. Besar without a ticket.
This train is often fully booked during this period, so you really should book your tickets as far in advance as you can.
To book tickets, you can:
Book online directly from the SRT booking website or through an agent >
If you do want to try your luck and turn up at Pdg. Besar without a ticket.
We recommend you get there in time to take the afternoon Shuttle train to Hat Yai, then if train 46 is full, you can still catch the train to Hat Yai, then you have a chance to take one of the trains from Hat Yai to Surat Thani.
To see the latest Shuttle train timetable click here >
To see the timetable for trains from Hat Yai to Surat Thani click here >
Related pages:
How to travel from Penang to Koh Samui >
Penang to Surat Thani by train >
How to travel from Hat Yai to Koh Samui >
KTM Padang Besar Train Schedules >