ClariceB
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 2 months ago
Hi,
Where is the passport control when travelling from Thailand to Malaysia? Is it at the train or at Padang Besar station? If it is at the station how much time should I reserv for it and where is it at the station?
MisterSteve
Traveller
1078 comments
As far as I know there are no direct trains and you have to change trains at the Malaysian Padang Besar station (not the smaller Thai station), with the passport control between trains. No idea about how long that takes but I do know that there is a time difference so 10:00 in Thailand is 11:00 in Malaysia and you have to be careful reading schedules, especially Thai railways times at Padang Besar. Our expert on this area is NLTrainer who may pick this up later.
nltrainer
Traveller
1399 comments
Tervetolua, selamat jalan, sawasdee.
Yes,have been over there some 4-5 times through the yrs-but some time ago, when there still was a through train-Thai train going all the way to Butterworth, the opposie of Penang island.
Never ever has there been passpt control in/out of TH on trains-its always in an (AC of course) office-when the train itself went on, you had to go out, Q up etc. First ging south check out of TH-then move on and check into MY - I do think that since this yr you also have to fill out an online form for to enter that negeri=country. In the past there was always (at least) 1 hr set for these checks and from what I remember this was OK-or the train would wait till anyone had passed. It is simply just 1 combined stesyen/station and not that big-just use eyes or follow the others and it will all be clear.
Now that you also have to change into the now elektrik kerata api(=train, literally it means cart by steam!) of the KTMB and as THai trains tend to be always late by like 1-2 hrs. the best site for general worldwide train info: seat61.com advises in booking you into the later train.
If youre a bit open minded it may be quicker and/or easier to use any of the multiple minivans that run direct from Haad Yai (big beach-but there is not any beach even nearby)=last major stop in TH to Penang.
As a general advice: in TH you do not really have to worry about all these things-just stand there, look lost and someone will come and help you out. Also: insisting on only 1st cl on SRT=the VR of TH, is both a waste of money and bringing you problems: 2nd (choice of AC or not-choose with in hot season) is perfectly fine- beds lined up along the corridor, lower and upper.
nltrainer
Traveller
1399 comments
Follow up: to my surprise-things change, and KTMB now offers a 2-hourly fixed ´Komuter tren´=local all stops to Butterworth-tickets (karcis) only for sale on the day itself at the stesyen. This besides the 1 or 2 daily through trains onto KUL. They take also cards for payment (in fact most Malays now pay by something on their fone-but thats not really for you) so you do not need to have cash ringgit (MYR). Of course there will also be some place to change any left THB notes (if not coming back) to MYR-rates will not be great.