Mawlamyine Train Station

Yangon bound train departing Mawlamyine
Yangon bound train departing Mawlamyine
Mawlamyine train station was completed in February 2006 making it now possible to get to Mawlamyine direct  from Yangon by train. The train passes over a single track railway bridge which runs parallel with vehicular trafffic over the Thanlwin river terminating at the Mawlamyine train station at Myay Ni Gone quarter. There are two trains services per day, the first leaving Yangon at 6:00 AM and arriving Mawlamyine at 3:30 PM, and the next service leaving Yangon 7:15 AM and arriving Mawlamyine at 6:30 PM.

For the return journey back to Yangon, the morning service departs Mawlamyine at 6:00 AM and arrives Yangon at 3:45 PM and the next train departs Mawlamyine at 10:00 AM and arrives Yangon at 8:00 PM. The earlier trains which depart at 6am make only two stops, at Thaton and Kyaitiyo and therefore arrives at their destination quicker than the later trains. You'll need to show your passport when purchasing a train ticket at the station.  Tickets Mawlamyine-Yangon costs $16 USD for upper class seats (4000 kyats for locals) and can be purchased from western end of the Mawlamyine station terminal at counter number 7. Unfortunately, there are no English signs but look for the number 7 counter (as shown in the picture), present your passport, and say to the man at that counter "Yangon thwa meh" (I'm going to Yangon). Tickets are usually purchased a day in advance, but to be on the safe side, you should book your tickets at least 3 days ahead.

There are now daily train services between the nation's capital, Nay Pyi Daw and Mawlamyine arriving Mawlamyine at 7:45pm.

Mawlamyine - Yangon ticket counter
Mawlamyine - Yangon ticket counter
 

There are two classes; Upper Class and Ordinary Class. Foreigners are usually automatically assumed to want Upper Class seats which are generally a lot more comfortable and more spacious than the Ordinary Class seats. Your ticket will have a car number (eg, 1, 2 3 etc) as well as a seat number, eg, A6, B6, C6 D6 where by the number refers to the row of the seat and the letter A,B,C,D whether you have an aisle or window seat. A and D are window seats and B and C are aisle seats. 

Seats are soft seats with cushions with a folding tray table infront of you. If you're lucky enough to get the middle row of seats, then you'll have a fixed table to share with passengers sitting opposite you.

Note that the 6am Upper Class cars are more modern than the 7:15am (from Yangon) /10am (from Mawlamyine) Upper Class cars. The modern upper class actually has two air conditioners at either end of the car, but it comes on infrequently so passengers tend to open the windows of carriages anyway, thereby rendering the air conditioning ineffective. There are toilets at either end of the carriages and a meal car is also available. 

Upper Class Car
Upper Class Car
 

 

Mawlamyine Train Station
Mawlamyine Train Station
Completion of the new Mawlamyine train station as well as well as the new Mottama railway station and the approaches at either end of the Thanlwyn river was completed in the first quarter of 2006 linking the single railway track on Mon State's "northern" and "southern" lines. Track work linking Mawlamyine station with the existing southern line to Thanbyuzayat, Ye, Malwetaung, Kanbauk and Dawei is almost complete thus giving the potential for the development of train services direct from Yangon to other the South East Asian capital cities of Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore parallelling the development of the Trans Asia Super Highway in the near future.  The location of Mawlamyine train station is at the Myay Ni Gone quarter, approximately 3 KM east of the Central market, Zeigyi. There are heaps of motorcyle taxis available upon your arrival to take you to your hotel/guesthouse at a cost of around 800 kyats.

Railway bridge
Railway bridge to/from Mottama
It is hoped that one day Mawlamyine will be linked to Bangkok, Thailand with a train service that branches off this line, possibly at Ye proceeding eastbound to the Payathounzu/Three Pagoda Pass border post. The distance from Ye to Payathounzu/Three Pagoda Pass is only 50 kilometres however the journey is through rugged jungle terrain so such development is still a very long way off.

 
Last Updated ( Sunday, 31 January 2010 )