Phnom Penh Railway Station was constructed during the French colonial era, opening to passengers in 1932. Despite being effectively out of use as railway station for an 11 year period from 2005 to 2016 Phnom Penh Railway Station is a beautifully preserved building from a much different era.
There are three different train services operating out of this station:
Phnom Penh Railway Station reopened to passengers on the 9th April 2016 for the first new train service to Sihanoukville, making the reintroduction of passenger train services in Cambodia. The station building is clean and well maintained, however, it is still a near empty space with no shops or restaurants or other amenities occupying the large open spaces within the station building or by the train platforms. Inside the train station itself there are seats and a ticket counter and nothing else.
Phnom Penh Train Station currently has three platforms in use each serving a different destination:
At the currently time there is single train service every day of the week from Phnom Pneh to Sihanoukville.
Phnom Penh | Takeo | Kep | Kampot | Sihanoukville |
07:00 | 08:30 | 10:10 | 10:40 | 12:20 |
At the moment train services from Phnom Penh only travel as far as Battambang.
Day | Phnom Penh | Pursat | Battambang | Poipet |
M,Tu,W,Th,F,Sa,Su | 06:40 | 11:00 | 13:00 | – |
There are no facilities at Phnom Penh Railway Station except for public toilets, which you will find the entrance near the train platforms.
The only places selling food and drinks near the train station are a sandwich kiosk also selling drinks and snacks outside the front entrance and another stall selling hot coffee and other beverages. There is catering on long distance trains in Cambodia on both major train lines and generally you can get better food on the train than you can at the station before your train departs.
There are two ticket counters in Phnom Penh Train Station, so you need to arrive early to buy a ticket and queues can form at busy times. The ticket counters accept payment in US Dollars as well as local currency.
Royal Railways is now enforcing seat reservations, so if you leave it late buying a ticket you increase your likelihood of buying a ticket for one of the less popular seats facing backward near the manually operated doors of the train.