BUTTERWORTH, Malaysia: KTM Berhad's daily express train from Bangkok was swarmed with foreigners and locals, most of whom had been stranded in Thailand following the closure of the Thai capitals Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Faces of fear and relief were visible when the train arrived at the Butterworth railway station at 1.50pm yesterday.

Systems analyst Leong Seow Peng, 32, and her family from Kuala Lumpur said they had to cut short their holiday in Bangkok following the unstable situation there.

"We were supposed to return to Kuala Lumpur by plane on Wednesday. But since the Bangkok airport was closed, we rushed to the train station and only managed to get tickets for today," she said yesterday.

Leong said that while in Bangkok, they stayed with a Malaysian friend who worked in Chinatown, which was spared the demonstrations.

A Shell Malaysia representative said his company sent two buses to the Butterworth railway station to ferry 50 colleagues to the Penang International Airport yesterday.

"Our colleagues, from Malaysia and overseas, were in Bangkok earlier for various business meetings.

"Our Thai counterpart helped them book train tickets to Butterworth, before they took their respective flights home to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, the Philippines and Melbourne," he said.

An Indonesian passenger, who declined to be named, appeared in a daze as he stepped out from the train and later tried to hail a taxi to get to the airport.

"I do not wish to talk about what happened in Bangkok. I just want to go back to Jakarta."

Australian couple Nigel Oleary, 25, and Marie McCarthy, 25, who boarded the 2.20pm express train from Butterworth to Bangkok yesterday, said they would still proceed with their holiday plans despite the volatile situation in Thailand.

"We were supposed to take the direct flight from Sydney to Bangkok three days ago. Instead, we had to fly to Brisbane and Singapore, and take buses to Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

"Hopefully, by the end of our 16-day tour in Thailand, the situation there will normalise so we can fly straight back to Sydney," said Oleary.