Hat Yai Junction railway station

Hat Yai Junction is an international railway junction and a Class 1 railway station for the State Railway of Thailand in the center of Hat Yai City, Songkhla Province, Thailand. The station is located 928.585 km from Bangkok's Thon Buri railway station and serves as a junction for the mainline Southern Line towards Pattani, Yala and Sungai Kolok (border point with Malaysia at Rantau Panjang) and Padang Besar, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore Line (border point with Malaysia at Padang Besar). The station yard is the location of a large locomotive depot: Hat Yai Depot, the southernmost railway depot in Thailand.

Hat Yai Junction encouraged Hat Yai's economic boom and growth, making the city larger than the province's capital Songkhla.

History
The original station was known as U-Taphao Junction and was located to the north of the current station. The U-Taphao station also served as a junction for the Hat Yai–Songkhla Line. However, the junction often got hit by floods and was moved to the present location at Hat Yai Junction. U-Tapao was reduced to a halt and eventually closed. In 1978, the line from Hat Yai to Songkhla City closed down, leaving the junction to be only for the mainline to Sungai-Kolok and the branch to Butterworth.

Since the start of 2013, there have been plans to rebuild the line back to Songkhla City.

Terrorist attacks
Hat Yai Junction has been a target of multiple terrorist attacks during the South Thailand insurgency.


 * 29 June 1977 - Bomb, 14 injured
 * 7 August 1977 - Bomb on Hat Yai–Bangkok Train
 * 1989 - 2 Bombs, 7 dead
 * 7 May 2001 - Bomb, 4 fatalities including a 5-year-old boy.

Pop culture
Hat Yai Junction railway station is the setting of at least two Thai pop songs, including (สัญญาใจ; RTGS: sanya jai) 'Love Promise') by Narathip Kanchanawat of Chatree band, in 1980, and has been covered by many artists since then. The second is the Thai protest song (phleng phuea chiwit), titled 'Promise at Hat Yai' (คำสัญญาที่หาดใหญ่; RTGS: kam sanya thi hat yai) by Jew Khonkhianphleng in 1994.