Today marks the start of the traditional Thingyan New Year Festival and the countrywide waterfights which signal its advent. One waiting passenger told reporters that demand for train tickets was always huge ahead of Thingyan.
He explained that people working in Yangon wanted to go back to their home towns for Thingyan and claimed that half the country’s bus companies suspended services over the four days of the festival. In Mandalay, station-master Nyein Maung warned travellers that maintenance would be carried out over Thingyan.
The maintenance means trains from Mandalay to Bagan and Myitkyina will not run between tomorrow and 16 April while Yangon to Mandalay services will run to a skeleton timetable. 12GO ASIA says aeroplane is currently the way to go and there are still seats on Myanmar National Airlines and Myanmar Airways International flights’ available.
Yangon Station reports long lines at ticket booths for Mandalay
News in Asia
Officials at Myanmar’s Yangon Central Railway Station reported record demand for tickets north to Mandalay early yesterday. Lines of passengers at each of the ticket counters in the station’s booking hall were at least 20 deep and guards reported that some people had queued overnight.