Rush for train tickets eases a bit BR starts selling advance tickets
People queued up at Dhaka and Chittagong railway stations on Wednesday as sale of advance train tickets for Eid journey began on the day.
Bangladesh Railway on the day sold tickets for July 1. Today they will sell tickets for July 2 from 8:00am to 5:00pm.
Standing in long queues in front of the counters at Kamalapur since Tuesday evening, people bought tickets for journey to Chittagong, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Dewanganj and Tarakandi.
Even after this rush, many tickets remained unsold at both stations while the passengers could not buy tickets for the newly announced Sonar Bangla express on Dhaka-Chittagong route.
People’s rush started to become thin by 10:00am when some of them failed to get advance tickets for their desired destinations.
People appreciated the authorities’ decision to start selling advance tickets at 8:00am and security at the station.
Women, nonetheless, faced hassles at the station as like every year only one counter was dedicated for them.
Najma Begum from Bashabo said she had come to the station towards 8:00pm on Tuesday to secure a position in the queue.
‘I again came here after having sehri. It is good that railway started to sell advance tickets at 8:00am but they should arrange another counter for women,’ she said.
Rabbi, a Tejgaon College student, said he had come to the station towards 10:00pm on Tuesday to get tickets for journey to Rajshahi.
Sadeq Khan purchased an advance ticket for journey to Rajshahi instead of Sirajganj as he found all tickets for Rajshahi sold out.
Demand for tickets would be the highest on Saturday and Sunday when tickets for journey on July 4 and July 5 would be sold, said officials.
BR Dhaka divisional manager Md Arifuzzaman told that advance tickets for the new train could be sold today.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the train on Saturday.
He said normally every year they sold about 18,000 advance tickets of intercity trains before Eid which would increase this year.
Today Times correspondent in Chittagong reported that presence of advance ticket seekers was as usual at the station.
Chittagong railway station manager Abul Kalam Azad said on the first day 40 per cent advance tickets remained unsold till 4:00pm.
He said more than 6,500 advanced tickets used to be sold from the station daily.
Railways minister Md Mazibul Hoque at an earlier press conference had declared that this Eid-ul-Fitr 77 new coaches and a new train would join the BR’s fleet.
This year the railway is expected to carry more than 2.50 lakh people each day during the Eid vacations while the number was 1.80 lakh to 1.90 lakh at other times.
