Holidaymakers throng Dhaka railway station for Eid time train tickets

The railways have started selling tickets in advance for trips ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the largest religious festivals of the Muslims.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 22 June 2016, 05:39 AM
Updated : 22 June 2016, 06:20 AM

Like other years, holidaymakers queued up in hundreds since the night before at the Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka.

The sales started on Wednesday with advance tickets for Jul 1 being made available. Tickets for July 2 would be sold on Thursday and later dates on each following day.

Abdus Sukkur Babul has been waiting in front of the counter for tickets to Chittagong since 3am.

After a five-hour wait, he finally got tickets for the Turna Nishita Express train at 8:30am. “I am feeling relieved; there’s no more tension,” is what he told bdnews24.com.

Tickets of Jul 3, 4 and 5 would be sold on Jun 24, 25 and 26

A person will be eligible to buy only four non-refundable tickets

Return tickets of Jul 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 would be sold on Jul 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8

Nazrul Islam and his son, however, had to wait for 12 hours to get tickets for the northern Bangladesh district of Rajshahi.

“I came here at 9:30pm on Tuesday. My son came in around 12am and replaced me.

“I came back again before dawn and sent him home,” he told bdnews24.com around 9am with the tickets in hand.

Manager of the station, Shitangshu Chakravarty, told bdnews24.com that they will be selling 18,000 tickets everyday for 33 destinations during the time of Eid travel sales.

Large queues could be seen in front of all the 23 counters. The authorities this year have arranged a separate counter for women and those with special needs. 

Any irregularities are yet to be reported and security forces have been deployed at the station. Police and RAB , apart from the railway’s security unit, are standing guard to prevent untoward incidents.

Kamlapur station’s Railway Police OC Abdul Majid said that they have detained 10 people for suspected involvement in black-marketing of tickets.