Very enjoyable trip report. Would you say that the train was mostly aimed at tourists, or did local folk use it too? Nice to see these old cars being modified and reused, rather than scrapped!
Ed.
It's amazing how resourceful Cambodians can be. As for whether the service is geared toward tourists or locals, I think the service is geared towards both and I'd say it was about 1/3 foreign tourists on my train. The rest were leisure Cambodian travelers. Fares are $7 end to end. It's a bit cheaper than an air conditioned van the same distance, but it does take almost twice as long.
I think the biggest problem facing the service is frequency. The schedule is currently:
Every Friday 1500 Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville
Every Saturday 0700 Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville
Every Saturday 0700 Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh
Every Sunday 0700 Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville
Every Sunday 1600 Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh
Every Sunday 0700 Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh
Every Sunday 1600 Phnom-Penh Sihanoukville
Every Monday 0700 Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh