Bamboo Train

Battambang Bamboo Train, mean norry or nori ( French word for lorry) is an improvised rail vehicle from Cambodia. Lonely Planet describes it as “Cambodia’s bamboo train”. 

Originally conceived as a logistical fix during the United Nations Transitional Authority of Cambodia period, the original “bamboo train” was a lorry system that operated on Cambodia’s rarely used northern rail line.

However, tourists soon discovered that the improvised rail vehicles, often consisting of a small motor and a bamboo platform on wheels, were a thrilling ride through the countryside, and a cottage industry sprang up just outside the provincial capital. But with plans to redevelop the railway for other traffic, the bamboo train had to go.

The trains run at speeds of up to 50 km/h (31 mph) on the metre gauge tracks around Battambang and Poipet. A scheduled service run by the Government also operates, but is slower at 30 km/h around 18 mph. The rest of the network, originally built by the French colonial government, is largely abandoned, after the Khmer Rouge regime effectively shut it down. In 2006 the BBC reported that there was only one scheduled service a week and it ran at not much more than walking pace.

In October 2017 the bamboo train was no longer available in the original form due to the national effort to rebuild the rail line from the Thai-Cambodia border town Poipet to Phnom Penh. However, the bamboo train is being rebuilt near Wat Banan (Distant 25Km from city) in order to cater to the local tourism industry. The relocated site is set to open in middle January 2018. we would like recommend take a TukTuk to get a new one. 

Provincial tourism authorities arranged a new home for the train, with the original operators still running the business.

But original Bamboo Train (Distant 7Km from city but can take TukTuk) reopen again in the same place in Odombong village in Battambang. so it’s still using by local people and also still popular for foreigners and local tourists to ride it for fun. Cost details of original bamboo train (click here)