An uncertain fate awaits the hawkers, drivers and rough sleepers who have made a second home under the ornate arched ceiling of Bangkok’s century-old central railway station. The elegant Italianate columns and stained glass windows of the station at Hua Lamphong will soon echo no more to the constant rattle of trains arriving and departing. Work on the terminal began in 1910 and the first train rolled into the station six years later. At its pre-pandemic peak, the station handled 37 million passengers each year, according to the State Railway of Thailand. Authorities plan to turn the station into a train museum – coupled with commercial space – as a way to preserve the building’s heritage.
