Bangladesh Railway (BR) authorities here have started selling advance tickets from yesterday against the train services from September 7 to September 11 for carrying passengers on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha.
Abdul Hai, General Manager of BR east zone formally inaugurated the advance tickets selling from Chittagong railway station in the morning.
He said the authorities have taken stringent measures this year to check “ticket black-marketing.”
The authorities have started issuing advanced tickets for 10 train services from September 7 to September 11.
The advance tickets are available from 8 a.m to 4 p.m everyday.
No rush for advanced rail tickets : There was, however, no very big gathering of ticket collectors as the Eid is still far away. Abul Kalam Azad, the Station Manager of Chittagong Railway Station said 4,602 tickets out of total 6,742 were given to counter for advance sale. But, there were not many passengers in line to collect tickets. Around 50 percent of advance tickets were been sold so far. Chittagong Station Manager also said, there is no shortage of tickets for Eid on the first day of selling the advance tickets. “We sold 4 thousands tickets of rails on different routes every day. Of these, 25 percent of tickets were sold by mobile while 5 percent were preserved for VIP’s and 65 percents were sold at counters. But, the numbers of ticket seekers are many. So, many of the homebound people did not get tickets.”
Officer-in-c harge of Rail Police at Chittagong Railway Station Himanshu Das said the law enforcers are very alert to stop the black marketing of tickets this year. Some of RAB men are also patrolling the station to control any unwanted situation. Sources said, the Bangladesh Railway (BR) authorities arranged special trains and extra bogies in every train for the homebound passengers. But, the tickets were used to be sold in the black market every year. Some of the tickets are selling the officers and staffs of rail authority. Besides, a total of 13 additional bogies will be added from September 8 and a total of 18 additional extra bogies will be added from September -9 in every trains. From today, BR has started selling advance ticket from rail station in Chittagong to different routes from Monday.
So, many of homebound people came to station to collect tickets for upcoming Eid. Abdul Halim Chowdhury, a ticket seeker said that he waited in the line for tickets. He got tickets to go home at Brammonbaria for enjoying the Eid with his family. Khaleda Akter, another ticket seekers alleged that there was no system for female to take ticket. There are no separate lines for them. “I have been waiting hours after hours for ticket in the combined line with hazards, but failed to get a ticket as the authority told that all tickets had been sold just after starting the selling of tickets.” The BR authority arranged special trains and extra bogies in every train for the homebound passengers. The BR authority has also canceled the weekly holiday of the all trains on the Dhaka Chittagong route. BR will add extra bogies including Air Conditioned bogies in all trains on the Dhaka-Chittagong route.
Besides, the BR authority will add a total of 20 trains from Chittagong to different stations for Eid. The extra trains will run from next week. Of these, a total of two new trains on Chittagong-Chandpur route, four trains for Chittagong-Comilla route, four trains for Dhaka-Mymensing route and four trains for Dhaka-Dewan Bazar route will be added for Eid.
On the other hand, the authorities of AC buses also arranged more buses for upcoming Eid. Many passengers are seen to collect advance tickets from the counters of AC buses at Garibullah Shah Mazar point in the port city.
