Bangkok: People flock to celebrate Songkran, public transport system is bustling with passengers, while Mittraphap Road is congested and moving slowly even though the M6 ??motorway is open.
According to Thai News Agency, at Mo Chit 2, there are still people traveling to take buses continuously. Mr. Chatchawan Promratham, board member, acting managing director of Transport Co., Ltd. (Transport Co., Ltd.) revealed that the figures for the Songkran Festival 2025 yesterday (11 April 2025) showed 106,337 outbound trips and 46,006 return trips from Bangkok, totaling 152,343 passengers. This involved 4,214 outbound and 3,438 return trips using Transport Co., Ltd. buses, joint buses, and vans, making a total of 7,652 trips.
Today (12 April 2025), people are still traveling back to their hometowns, marking another significant day of travel as it is the first official day of the Songkran Festival 2025. The Transport Company expects approximately 120,000 people to make round trips, utilizing buses, including Transport Company buses, joint buses, and vans for about 5,000 trips. To support the travel demand, approximately 1,000 non-scheduled buses, including 30 additional buses, have been arranged. SRT has also added one more train trip from Korat to Bangkok Central Station.
Krungthep Aphiwat Central Station continues to see passengers traveling home for the Songkran festival. Mr. Thakoon Inthachom, Director of Train Operations of the State Railway of Thailand, reported that yesterday, 92,000 people used the service, which was below estimates. Therefore, the additional trains are sufficient for the current demand. An extra line has been added between Krungthep Aphiwat Central Station and Nakhon Ratchasima, with a travel time of about 4 hours, offering an alternative to avoid road traffic congestion.
For today’s travel figures, monitoring will occur in the afternoon, but an increase in passengers is expected due to the holiday season. Additionally, the State Railway of Thailand has augmented its regular trains with more passenger cars, supporting 214 trains per day to accommodate up to 120,000 passengers daily. It has also introduced 26 additional special trains for the northern, northeastern, and southern routes during the Songkran Festival 2025, to adequately support train travel demand.
Mittraphap Road is facing congestion and slow movement despite the M6 ??motorway being open. Traffic conditions on Mittraphap Road, through Sikhio District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, are heavy due to the road’s steep nature, requiring vehicles to slow down and move in a continuous but sluggish manner. Vehicles can reach speeds of about 30-40 kilometers per hour, with private cars, sedans, pickup trucks, and some goods-carrying trucks occupying all three lanes. After the slope, traffic improves, but cars from secondary routes joining the main road intermittently cause slowdowns.
Many vehicles departing from Bangkok last night had to stop at gas stations to rest due to traffic jams. Workers and families are rushing back to their hometowns to celebrate Songkran. For instance, at the PTT gas station on Mittraphap Road in Sikhio District, many people took breaks amid the heavy traffic.