Gone in 2 minutes: Train tickets sell like hotcakes as Eid holidays near

Advance tickets for Apr 7 sell out within two minutes of going live

The demand for train tickets has surged markedly as the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays loom on the horizon.

On Friday, tickets for Apr 7 were sold out within two minutes of going live.

Bangladesh Railway began the online-only ticket sales on Mar 24, anticipating Eid to be on Apr 11.

The sales are set to continue until Mar 30. Authorities are also planning to offer tickets for Apr 10-12, subject to the moon's sighting.

On the sixth day of sales, tickets for western routes were available in the morning while seat bookings for eastern routes can be made from 2pm.

The demand for advance tickets was light on the first day of the sales, but it escalated quickly, with all tickets being sold out within half an hour on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. By Thursday, tickets were gone in just five minutes.

According to the Bangladesh Railway website, as many as 354 seats on Dhumketu Express, 636 on Banalata Express, 288 on Silkcity Express, 70 on Madhumati Express, and 660 on Padma Express for Rajshahi, were up for grabs as the sales opened at 8am on Friday. However, all were sold by 8:02am.

By 8:03am, the website indicated that there were no available tickets for trips to Dinajpur. Though some tickets initially appeared to be available, their status quickly changed to 'sold out' as soon as anyone attempted a purchase.

Initially, the available seats for Dinajpur included 131 on Ekota Express, 162 on Drutojan Express, and 214 on Panchagarh Express.

Tickets for other western region routes also disappeared within the first five minutes.

Advance tickets are traditionally sold 10 days before the travel date.

Accordingly, travellers will be able to purchase train tickets for Apr 9 trips on Saturday.

Tickets for return trips after Eid will be sold from Apr 3-9.

As many as 33,500 inter-city train tickets will be sold ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr this year.

In addition, eight pairs of special trains will also operate on different routes nationwide for Eid.

Tickets can only be booked through online platforms, namely the Bangladesh Railway website, the Rail Sheba app and Shohoz.com