Commuting Cambodians create bamboo 'rail taxis' on abandoned train line, complete with frames made from rusting civil war tanks

• Inventive locals in Cambodia have made bamboo trains for an abandoned line
• The 'nori' trains can reach speeds of up to 25mph on the bumpy single track
• The line runs in Battambang province, in the rural north-west of Cambodia 

Daily Mail | 22 October 2014

The starting point for the bamboo train of Battambang wasn't quite a station, more a collection of tumbledown rural buildings.

But commuters on this line don't need much of a station, because there is no waiting.

So many 'trains' are available, it is more like picking up a rail taxi.

Inventive: The line runs through the countryside in Battambang province in the rural north-west of Cambodia

These trains are the travel solution along several stretches of partly wrecked Cambodian track. Here proper trains no longer run - so people make their own.

Originally, the bogies for these trains were made from the wheels of tanks abandoned after the civil war. 

Now they are made in local workshops, as are the trains' flatbed trucks - bamboo platforms called 'nori', which carry passengers, livestock, rice and market goods.

Take me home, country rails: The abandoned rail line forges through lush scenery in rural Cambodia 

At the 'station', a driver settled my friend and me onto a nori right away, and started up the 6hp motor. The single line has 3ft-wide tracks that are warped and misaligned in places, so the nori's small handrail was reassuring.

Clattering along at about 25mph, through miles of lush, remote scenery felt peaceful, despite the engine noise.

The meditative rhythm of the journey was interrupted by a nori with four passengers heading right for us. I wondered about brakes, but there weren't any. Each driver stopped his engine and drifted until the trains were almost bumper to bumper.

On the rails: The 'nori' trains have become a major attraction for tourists seeking to try an unusual sort of travel

Our driver asked us to get off; we had to give way. The other driver helped us pick up the bamboo nori, the engine and wheels, and take them to the side of the track. He helped us reassemble our small train, and we were back on our way.

Not for long. Two more nori came towards us. Again, our train had to be dismantled - the number of nori, the number of passengers or size of cargo dictates who has to vacate the track.

Faster than you expect: The trains, powered by rudimentary engines, hit speeds of up to 25 miles per hour

We did seem to be coming up against an unjust number of crowded nori. We were growing anxious to make it in time to visit the reputedly charming cafes in the village at the end of the line, and for our driver, who surely couldn't spend all day with one set of passengers and make a living.

Then we met one nori, with two tourist passengers - the same as us.

Who had the right of way now? Our driver started shouting. The other, younger one got down and asked his passengers to dismantle their train. Our driver grinned. 'Sometimes no rules, only which driver shouting most,' he said.

Helping hand: Riders may have to move their train if they meet another carriage coming in the other direction

We had a clear run then to the pretty village. The train back would be at our convenience.

This is definitely one of the world's more interesting train journeys. And perhaps an inspiration to frustrated commuters everywhere.