A nation travels back home after the Songkran holiday

All roads into the Thai capital were congested one week ago, the Songkran holiday’s last day, as thousands of Thais returned from visiting their hometowns back to jobs in Bangkok. The Morchit bus stations were extremely busy from dawn and throughout the entire area there were huge traffic jams. Arriving passengers at the main Hualamphong rail station in Bangkok experienced difficulties finding a taxi because there weren’t enough available taxis to handle the huge amount of home-comers. Some taxi drivers refused turning on the fare meter.

Nearly 400,000 passengers used the rail services. Additional rail services were provided the previous night by coaches leaving from upcountry locations. The most used departure stations were Ubol Ratchathani, Uttaradit, Udon Thani, and Si Sa Ket. All seats in the trains were fully booked.

Many Thais visit their hometown to celebrate Songkran with the family

Travellers seeking to get to Khorat, the Northeast’s main gateway could make use of one of the 560 extra bus voyages and from here take trains back to the capital. In the southern part of Thailand security was tightened. Bangkok-bound travellers crowded the Hat Yai rail way station. Extra carriages provided by the State Railway Authority still weren’t sufficient to meet demand.

Transport to Thailand