Songkran Traveling Sprees Occupy Roads And Railways

BANGKOK, April 10 (TNA) -- Traffic is escalating on highways and railways leading to regions as people are traveling back to their homes to celebrate the Songkran festival. In Chai Nat province, more vehicles were running on Highway 32, aka Asian Highway, towards the North. Many vehicles were trucks because the Land Transport Department would temporarily ban them on highways on April 11-17 to reduce risks of traffic accidents during the Songkran holiday. For Highway 2 or Mitraparp Highway in Nakhon Ratchasima province which is the gateway to the Northeast, provincial police chief Pol Maj Gen Wacharin Boonkong suggested motorists avoid the highway’s bottleneck section near the Lam Takhong dam in Si Khiu district or they would waste 5-7 hours in traffic jams there. He recommended a faster detour through Saraburi province and Thep Sathit district of Chaiyaphum province. In the southern province of Songkhla, first-class train tickets were fully booked until April 20 at the Hat Yai junction station. Meanwhile, huge crowds of Cambodian workers were crossing the border through Thep Nimit sub-district of Pong Namron district in Chanthaburi province to go back to their homeland. Officials expected at least 140,000 Cambodian workers would return home through the checkpoint in this Songkran festival. At the border checkpoint of Mae Sot district in Tak province, Myanmar workers were overpowering immigration officers to undergo procedures to return to their soil. Local officials believed at least 100,000 Myanmar workers would leave Thailand through the passage in this Songkran festival. (TNA)