Hundreds of people wishing to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr at their village home with near and dear ones thronged at Kamalapur Railway Station as soon as the advance sale of train tickets began yesterday.
Bangladesh Railway (BR) on the day started selling advance tickets at the station to ease sufferings of the homebound passengers.
Although the sale was supposed to begin from 9am in the morning, people crowded at the ticket counters standing in queues since Saturday night to collect tickets.
Despite a strenuous waiting for the whole night, many had to return home empty-handed following the end of first day’s ticket selling quota.
Ahsan Ullah, a resident of city’s Maniknagar area, said he had gone to Kamalapur Railway Station after having his Shehri on Sunday but he finally returned home without any ticket due to finish of allocation for the first day ticket.
The railway authority sold around 18,000 advance tickets (inter city trains) for travel of 24 July for the first day.
Many also expressed their frustration for not getting first class tickets from the counters as those were sold out within an hour.
When asked, Abu Taher, Director General of BR, told The New Nation that the problem had arisen due to a small number of first class cabin available on different routes.
Taher, who visited the station yesterday morning, hoped that no complaint of selling tickets on the black market will arise this year as they had taken special measures.
He said, like the previous years, the railway authority has arranged special train services during Eid holidays this year.
Two trains will start carrying passengers on Dhaka-Dewanganj-Dhaka and Chittagong-Chandpur-Chittagong routes, three days before the Eid.
A couple of trains will also start running on Parbatipur-Dhaka-Parbatipur and Dhaka-Khulna-Dhaka routes three days before the Eid.
These special trains will also carry passengers after seven days of the Eid, added Abu Taher.
On Sunday, BR has issued train tickets of July 24. The tickets of July 25, 26, 27 and 28 will be sold on July 21, 22, 23 and 24 respectively at Kamalapur and other stations across the country from 9:00am each day.
A prospective passenger can buy a maximum of four tickets.
Passengers will be able to buy train tickets via internet. To purchase the ticket, they will have to visit: www.railway.gov.bd
Twenty-five percent tickets will be sold online.
