The Mae Klong Railway was built in two separate stages. The Tachin Railway Ltd, founded in 1901 with a concession from the Crown of Thailand to construct a line to Samut Sakhon from Bangkok,[1] built the 33 kilometer Mahachai Line; it opened in 1904 with 8 stations. A year later, The Maeklong Railway Company opened the 34 kilometer Ban Laem Line.[2] The lines merged in 1907 to form the Maeklong Railway Ltd. It was originally opened as a goods line, transporting produce from the fishing ports of Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkram to the Bangkok markets.[3] The Thai military gained control of the railway in 1942, during World War II, and the line was nationalised by the Thai Government in 1946.[4] The line was operated by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) from 1952 and was fully merged into the SRT in 1955.[2] In 1961 the line's original terminus at Khlong San was closed and replaced with a bus stop, to ease traffic congestion in Bangkok. Wongwian Yai became the new terminus.[2]