BANGKOK, April 11 — Train stations and bus terminals in Bangkok are crowded with passengers beginning to flow out of the capital to celebrate the Thai traditional new year, or Songkran long holidays, and homecoming trips.
Revellers started arriving at Hua Lamphong Railway Station early morning to catch trains to their hometowns. The northeastern route was on highest demand followed by the northern route.
The Cabinet approved an additional holiday April 12 as a special case during Songkran to enable people to return home during the festival, making it a 5-day holiday (April 12-16).
The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) has implemented measures to facilitate and ensure the safety of passengers during April 11-18.
Eight extra trains will be provided on top of 250 daily train services April 11-12 and 18 extra trains from April 15-18 which could carry an additional 13,000 passengers daily on average.
Meanwhile, Mo Chit Bus Terminal was gradually crowded since early morning, particularly the northeastern route.
More than 210,000 passengers are expected to use the interprovincial bus services today.
The Transport Company increased the numbers of services by 2,000 trips and expected to cope with the high demand of passengers.
No stranded passengers were expected by midnight.
At Suvarnabhumi Airport, it is expected that more than 164,000 passengers will use the airport on Thursday, a highest number during the festival.
Various airlines have provided more than 400 chartered flights to respond the demand of passengers.
