Phitsanulok trip report

The provincial city with a preposterous plan for a 5-line mass transit system, and how the proposed high-speed rail to Chiang Mai could transform its fortunes.

Phitsanulok is a city in Central Thailand (or Lower Northern Thailand, depending on how you define regions). It has the distinction of being a crossroads city, with major North-South and East-West highways passing through there. It almost became a major railway hub as well, which I will cover in this article.

My interest in Phitsanulok was piqued by a proposed people mover. The proposal is for an Auto Tram System, which is basically a tram with rubber wheels (or is it a bus that looks like a tram?) There are several cities in Thailand that are proposing urban transit systems, but Bangkok is still the only city with a transit system of some kind.

I am chronicling every proposed transit system in Southeast Asia, and I have made a fact sheet for the Phitsanulok Auto Tram System.

The official website calls it the Phitsanulok Mass Transit Project. Labelling anything as Mass in a city of 62,000 people seems like a bit of a stretch, so I had to go to Phitsanulok for myself to get a feel for the city and see if it needs a mass transit system.