Advance train tickets for Eid holidaymakers sell out in first 10 minutes on 3rd day

The Bangladesh Railway said tickets for Apr 5 - a Friday - were being sold on Tuesday, leading to a rush of customers

The demand for advance train tickets for Eid journeys has continued to intensify on the third day of sales.

Tickets for Apr 5 were sold out within 10 minutes of sales going live on Shohoz.com at 8am, quicker than in the first two days.

The rush for tickets intensifies as Eid grows closer, said Kamalapur Rail Station Manager Md Masud Sarwar.

“Today [Tuesday] the demand for tickets has increased tremendously. As Apr 5 is a Friday, the demand for tickets is high. That is when people will start heading home. That is why the demand for tickets is higher than in the past two days.”

Tickets for rail routes for the western region went on sale at 8am, while tickets for routes on the eastern region went on sale at 2pm.

This year, the Bangladesh Railway has set the train schedule under the assumption that Eid will fall on Apr 11. Advance ticket sales began on Sunday and will end on Mar 30.

According to the Bangladesh Railway authorities, tickets will also be sold for Apr 10-12, depending on the sighting of the moon.

By 8:10am on Tuesday, no more tickets were available on the Rajshahi-bound Silk City Express, or the Padma, Dhumketu, Banalata and Madhumati expresses. Before the start of sales at 8am, the Silk City Express had 288 free seats, the Madhumati 70, the Padma Express 658, the Dhumketu Express 353 and the Banalata Express 636.

The tickets for the Rangpur Express, the Kurigram Express, and the Panchagarh Express sold out within three minutes. Though tickets were shown as ‘available’ on the site around 8:30am, they could not actually be bought.

On the first day of sales on Sunday, train tickets were available past 10am – two hours after they became available. However, they sold out much faster on Monday, with some trains fully booked within 15 minutes and tickets eventually selling out within a half hour.

According to the railway authorities, tickets for trips on Apr 6 will be sold on Mar 27, and Apr 7 on Mar 28.

Advance ticket sales for the return journey after Eid will begin on Apr 3.

Ticket seekers can purchase their tickets to return to Dhaka until Apr 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.