Asia - Kuala Lumpur - Bangkok by train?

Has anyone done this route by scheduled train, and not by the Eastern & Oriental Express? The Thai State Railway (http://www.thailandrailway.com/) site is rather useless and the Malaysian KTM (http://www.ktmb.com.my/index.cfm) is only slightly better.

How does one book/buy tickets, especially a FC sleeper? Change of trains at Butterworth (Thai railway implies service goes to to that part of Malaysia or at Haadyai/Hatyai?

I did the Butterworth-Bangkok trip a couple of years ago, and at that time the best they offered was second class sleepers, there was no first class sleeper that did the trip all the way (though this might have changed now). It cost about RM90 then, and was a pleasant enough journey, though the first class carriages are nicer (the Malaysian ones are much better than the Thai ones, but I think the improved Malaysian ones only run KL-SIN).

Usually there's no problems with booking e-tickets on the KTM site, though the last couple of days the e-booking function seems to have been down. Hopefully it'll be back soon enough. But I've used it a number of times without any worries, much easier than trying to buy a ticket at the counter anyway. Your other option is to take the KL-Hat Yai train and then switch trains at Hat Yai, but I'm not aware of any ways to purchase e-tickets for the Thai railway - happy to hear if anyone else has any advice from the Thai side of things.

The best reference for train travel in the region is Seat 61 (http://www.seat61.com/Malaysia.htm). KTM's e-tickets work quite well. If you make the trip, be sure to stop off at Butterworth (which you will have to do anyway) and visit Penang.

For a more off-the-beaten-track experience, you can take the Jungle Line from KL to Sungei Kolok, then cross the border and board another train on the Thai side of the border. No 1st-class luxury in this neck of the jungle, but the 2nd class aircon sleepers are acceptable (at least on KTM's side, haven't tried the Thai half of this yet). And instead of Penang, you can visit the Perhentian Islands (http://wikitravel.org/en/article/Perhentian_Islands) along the way!

just out of curiosity, why by train, sted plane?

Thanks all. I will try to research it further.

Penang has lost a lot of its charm. I've been there over the past 30+ years (grandmother was born there) and the only part I like these days is the western side of the island.

As for why train. One gets to see and experience more.

I am a bit worried by the prospect of violence in southern Thailand though.

If you are doing it, I would suggest you hop down from the train at several stations while it makes a stop, in particular Taiping and Ipoh (in particular a very old historic station)

Flying KUL-LGK and seated on the window seat on the right, one could have a very clear view of the entire Penang island from the air. Almost every landmark in Penang is clearly visible and I didnt expect Penang island to be so small from the air.

Thanks all. I will try to research it further.

As for why train. One gets to see and experience more.

I am a bit worried by the prospect of violence in southern Thailand though.

Any update about the situation in southern thailand, I´m about to go there ,
in the end of this month.
Thinking as well of a train trip from KL, up to Trang and from there to Krabi(by bus)...jungle express sounds very tempting..

We did Penang-Bangkok by train. First class doesn't show up until Hat Yai after we passed the Thai border. So, we bought advance first class sleeper tickets from Hat Yai to Bangkok -- you do this by paying a modest fee, like $5 a ticket, to a Thai travel agency to go get the tickets for you and also paid for the travel agent to Fedex them to us in the U.S. I found the travel agency we used on the web and it was totally reliable, I later used them for some discounted Bangkok hotel bookings with no problems. Alas, I no longer remember their name, but I charged everything to a credit card which provided reasonable protection and if you do it that way, and the travel agent has been in business for some time, it should work for you too.

We then bought the best tickets available, second class, from Penang to Hat Yai. We did this a week or so in advance in KL, but I see no reason not to use the KTM website. Then when we got to Hat Yai, we changed seating. This was easy since it's a fairly long stop to add the new cars, like 30 minutes. This allowed us to sleep in first class since the first part of the trip was entirely by day.

First class isn't really that luxurious, although it was OK. No one in our family other than me had ever spent the night on a train and I wanted them to experience it once.

I find the various Orient Expresses anywhere in the world incredibly overpriced for what they offer. I am amazed ANYONE thinks they would be good value for money. As the company continues in business year after year, I guess many folks disagree with me.