Police, Airport Link staff take care of int'l passengers during New Year

BANGKOK, December 28 (TNA) - Over 60 Suvarnabhumi police officers and staff of Railway Co, Ltd., a subsidiary of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), are working together to provide conveniences and safety for locals and foreign passengers using Thailand's Airport Link services, at its Makkasan station alone, during the four-day New Year holiday season, from December 29, 2012-January 1, 2013. The Deputy Commander of the 4th Division of the Railway Police, Police Lieutenant Colonel Phupacharana Sesopopbuppha, presided over a ceremony to release a line of the over 60 police officers and railway staff at the Makkasan station in the heart of Bangkok on Friday. Police Lieutenant Colonel Phupacharana told reporters that the special security services at the Makkasan station, Airport Link's central rail terminal, are aimed to help prevent accidents and crime, apart from facilitating the international passengers during their New Year travels. Suthep Panpeng, director of trains operations unit of Railway Co., Ltd., assessed that international passengers using Airport Link electric train services, from the Makkasan station in the heart of the capital to Thailand's main Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok's suburban Samut Prakan Province and vice versa, should increase to 50,000 daily during the New Year festival, from, normally, some 40,000 daily. Suthep announced that on New Year eve, December 31, 2012, Airport Link trains will extend its daily services until 2am of January 1, 2013, to cater New Year celebrants, in line with those of Bangkok's skytrains and underground trains. Meanwhile, the exodus of people, travelling by inter-provincial buses, from the capital and other provinces to their hometowns for the New Year festivity has started, clogging up all major highways nationwide. (TNA)