Advance rail ticket sales for Eid start

Bangladesh Railway have started selling tickets in advance for trips ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of the Muslims.

Like every year, holidaymakers queued up in hundreds since the night before at outlets selling the tickets.

The sales started on Thursday with advance tickets for July 13 being made available. Tickets for July 14 would be sold on Friday and later dates on each following day.

They would be available for eight hours from 9am everyday.

Eid-ul Fitr is expected to be celebrated in Bangladesh on July 18, subject to the sighting of moon.

At Dhaka’s Kamalapur Railway Station, large queues could be seen in front of all the counters. Many had lined up at night.

“I came here after Sehri and found many already standing in line,” university student Nurrunnabi Shohag told bdnews24.com.

He was waiting in queue for a ticket for Chittagong where his family stays.

Maksudul Islam, who hails from Dinajpur, was in line from around the same time and was ecstatic when he secured the tickets. “We only go home twice every year. All of us will celebrate together, so the hassle is worth it.”

Manager of the station, Shitangshu Chakravarty, told bdnews24.com adequate law enforcers were deployed there to prevent irregularities.

Return tickets would be available from July 16. Tickets for July 20 would be available for sale on the first day and those for consecutive days up to July 24 would continue until July 20.

The railways ministry had announced 10 additional trains services to meet the Eid rush.

The Dewanganj Special, Chandpur Special, Parbatipur Special and Khulna Special would be plying from July 15-17 and July 20-26 to accommodate holiday makers of those areas.

The railway authorities have declared to serve more than 250,000 holidaymakers during the Eid-Ul Fitr rush.