Staff Reporter :
People queued at all the major railway stations across the country on Monday as the sale of advance train tickets for Eid journey began on the day.
Standing in long queues in front of the counters at Kamalapur Railway Station since Sunday evening, people bought tickets for journey to go to their destination to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha.
People appreciated the authorities’ decision to start selling of advance tickets from 8:00am amid security at the station.
Sale started at 8am on Monday on 23 counters of the Kamalapur Railway Station and continued till 4pm.
Besides Kamalapur and Airport Railway Stations in Dhaka, tickets were sold at Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna, Jessore, Ishwardi, Rajshahi, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat stations for September 7.
Railway officials said that a total of 69 trains would operate each day from Sep 8 to 11 before Eid with advance tickets for 23,500 seats of 31 trains have been readied for sale.
Eid-ul-Azha in Bangladesh may be celebrated on Sep 12 or 13, depending on moon sighting.
Advance tickets for September 8, 9, 10 and 11 will be sold on August 30, 31, Sept 1 and 2, respectively. The sale will begin at 8am every day.
Advance return tickets for Sept 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 will be available on Sept 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, respectively.
On Monday, demand for tickets to the northern districts was high of Rangpur Express.
Abu Salman, a holidaymaker could not get the ticket for Shantahar after spending hours in queue since 4:30am.
“There is no ticket for Shantahar, so I had to purchase a ticket to Chatmohor,” he said.
A worker on the ticket counter said that enough tickets for Rangpur were still available but tickets for stations on way to Rangpur were sold out.
Moderate crowd was spotted on the Counter No. 7 for Chittagong-bound trains – Suborno Express, Mohanagar Probhati and Sonar Bangla Express, but no crowd was seen at Counter No. 8 for Chattala Express and Upakul Express.
Counters 9, 11 and 12 selling tickets to Sylhet, Kishoreganj and Netrokona saw a thin crowd.
Nahid Akhter, one of the sellers of these counters, said, “There is hardly any customer. We still have an abundance of unsold tickets.”
Around 9am, during a visit to the Kamalapur Railway Station, Bangladesh Railway’s Director General Md Amzad Hossain said that around 9,000 tickets were sold out by then.
He highlighted that the passenger carrying capacity would increase this time as new coaches have been added to some trains.
“Bogies have been attached to some trains before Eid which is likely to raise their capacity by around 30 percent,” the DG said claiming of zero irregularity in sale of Eid tickets this year.
“We have taken preventive measures to stop sale of black tickets. We have kept close watch against sale of tickets on black market,” said Hossain.
All inter-city trains, except Upakul Express, Bijoy Express and Sundarban Express, will be operating on their weekly day-offs from Sept 7 until the day before the Eid.
Three pairs of special trains are scheduled to operate on Sept 9, 10 and 11 and on the seven days next to Eid, from Sep 14 to 20.
Leave of important railway officers have been cancelled. They will work in the control room set up at the Rail Bhaban in the capital.
Joint Director General (Operation) of BR S M Murad Hossain said the authorities concerned have taken all-out preparations to ensure a smooth sale of train tickets amid adequate security measures.
Meanwhile, the home-goers will collect all kinds of launch advance tickets, including that of cabin, at Sadarghat Launch Terminal from September 1 and it will continue till the ticket stock runs out.
The BITWA will start to sell their tickets for its five steamers this year while the private launch authorities for 70 vessels, Mobarak Hossain said adding that they must sell their tickets as per the capacity of launch seats.
Shipping Secretary Ashok Madhab Roy said the ministry has taken all the necessary preparations to avert any accident on waterways.
He said the law enforcers, including Bangladesh Coast Guard and Navy Police, will remain deployed at launch terminals to ensure security measures in addition to mobile court drives to check overloading.
People queued at all the major railway stations across the country on Monday as the sale of advance train tickets for Eid journey began on the day.
Standing in long queues in front of the counters at Kamalapur Railway Station since Sunday evening, people bought tickets for journey to go to their destination to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha.
People appreciated the authorities’ decision to start selling of advance tickets from 8:00am amid security at the station.
Sale started at 8am on Monday on 23 counters of the Kamalapur Railway Station and continued till 4pm.
Besides Kamalapur and Airport Railway Stations in Dhaka, tickets were sold at Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna, Jessore, Ishwardi, Rajshahi, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat stations for September 7.
Railway officials said that a total of 69 trains would operate each day from Sep 8 to 11 before Eid with advance tickets for 23,500 seats of 31 trains have been readied for sale.
Eid-ul-Azha in Bangladesh may be celebrated on Sep 12 or 13, depending on moon sighting.
Advance tickets for September 8, 9, 10 and 11 will be sold on August 30, 31, Sept 1 and 2, respectively. The sale will begin at 8am every day.
Advance return tickets for Sept 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 will be available on Sept 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, respectively.
On Monday, demand for tickets to the northern districts was high of Rangpur Express.
Abu Salman, a holidaymaker could not get the ticket for Shantahar after spending hours in queue since 4:30am.
“There is no ticket for Shantahar, so I had to purchase a ticket to Chatmohor,” he said.
A worker on the ticket counter said that enough tickets for Rangpur were still available but tickets for stations on way to Rangpur were sold out.
Moderate crowd was spotted on the Counter No. 7 for Chittagong-bound trains – Suborno Express, Mohanagar Probhati and Sonar Bangla Express, but no crowd was seen at Counter No. 8 for Chattala Express and Upakul Express.
Counters 9, 11 and 12 selling tickets to Sylhet, Kishoreganj and Netrokona saw a thin crowd.
Nahid Akhter, one of the sellers of these counters, said, “There is hardly any customer. We still have an abundance of unsold tickets.”
Around 9am, during a visit to the Kamalapur Railway Station, Bangladesh Railway’s Director General Md Amzad Hossain said that around 9,000 tickets were sold out by then.
He highlighted that the passenger carrying capacity would increase this time as new coaches have been added to some trains.
“Bogies have been attached to some trains before Eid which is likely to raise their capacity by around 30 percent,” the DG said claiming of zero irregularity in sale of Eid tickets this year.
“We have taken preventive measures to stop sale of black tickets. We have kept close watch against sale of tickets on black market,” said Hossain.
All inter-city trains, except Upakul Express, Bijoy Express and Sundarban Express, will be operating on their weekly day-offs from Sept 7 until the day before the Eid.
Three pairs of special trains are scheduled to operate on Sept 9, 10 and 11 and on the seven days next to Eid, from Sep 14 to 20.
Leave of important railway officers have been cancelled. They will work in the control room set up at the Rail Bhaban in the capital.
Joint Director General (Operation) of BR S M Murad Hossain said the authorities concerned have taken all-out preparations to ensure a smooth sale of train tickets amid adequate security measures.
Meanwhile, the home-goers will collect all kinds of launch advance tickets, including that of cabin, at Sadarghat Launch Terminal from September 1 and it will continue till the ticket stock runs out.
The BITWA will start to sell their tickets for its five steamers this year while the private launch authorities for 70 vessels, Mobarak Hossain said adding that they must sell their tickets as per the capacity of launch seats.
Shipping Secretary Ashok Madhab Roy said the ministry has taken all the necessary preparations to avert any accident on waterways.
He said the law enforcers, including Bangladesh Coast Guard and Navy Police, will remain deployed at launch terminals to ensure security measures in addition to mobile court drives to check overloading.
