Trains, buses prepared to take people back home after royal cremation of late Thai King

BANGKOK, October 27 (TNA) - The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and the Transport Co., Ltd., under the Thai Ministry of Transport, has prepared inter-provincial trains and buses to sufficiently cater for people who are returning home after attending the Royal Cremation Ceremony of late His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Bangkok. Both SRT and the Transport Co., Ltd. assured the public of their well-prepared transport services to send people back home in provincial areas on Friday, announcing that SRT has added 28 inter-provincial trains daily to take people back home until October 30, apart from adding more bogies for each regular daily train trip up to its full capacity, and that the Transport Co., Ltd. has provided a total of 9,233 inter-provincial bus trips daily to also send the people back home during October 26-29. SRT reported that it has prepared both short-hauled and long-hauled trains to serve people returning back home in provincial areas as of the early hours of October 27, with the short-hauled trains taking them from stations in Bangkok to the central Ayutthaya Province and the eastern Chachoengsao Province and the long-hauled trains transporting them from stations in the capital to, for example, Chiang Mai Province in the Thai North, Hat Yai in Songkhla Province in the Thai Far South and Ubon Ratchathani and Udon Thani Provinces in the Thai Northeast. According to the SRT report, all the prepared inter-provincial trains are expected to serve passengers up to at least 100,000 of them daily until October 30, which is believed to be sufficient to cater for the increased demand during the period. The Transport Co., Ltd. reported, on the other hand, that about 5,086 inter-provincial bus trips daily have been prepared for people going back home in the Thai North and Northeast to serve about 114,527 of them a day until October 29, while about 1,199 bus trips daily have been provided for those returning home in the Thai East to cater for another 20,669 of them a day and about 2,948 bus trips daily have been prepared for those returning back home in the Thai South to serve another 51,592 passengers a day. The Transport Co., Ltd. noted that people are welcome to call its 24-hour hotline service, 1490, for more information. (TNA)