Seventy percent of luxury inter-city train seats – including saloon, air-conditioned berth, berth and air-conditioned coach seats – have already been pre-booked by VIPs and Railway officials, Railway sources said on Thursday.
This has put regular paying customers out of the running to acquire tickets put on sale during the Eid season advanced sales period.
“The Railway has received thousands of demand letters from ministers, members of parliament, state ministers, secretaries, high officials and professionals demanding luxury seat reservations,” said a Railway Ministry official, requesting not to be named.
But according to the Railways Act, although Railway staff and officials are allotted 5% and state VIPs are allotted 5% of tickets, these allotments are not allowed ahead of Eid.
This elite pre-booking means that regular paying customers, after spending hours in queue, are being told that luxury seats have been sold out on the very day that the tickets were supposed to be up for “advanced sales.”
The Dhaka Tribune spoke to several people at Kamalapur Railway Station on Thursday, who said they were unable to get tickets for air-conditioned coach seats at the counter.
Bangladesh Railway started selling advanced tickets for Eid travellers on Thursday, and will continue until on Monday, July 13.
A Railway official said 67 trains depart from Kamalapur Railway Station each day, carrying up to 45,000 passengers. During the Eid rush, up to 50,000 passengers will depart every day.
Of the 67 trains departing each day, 28 are inter-city trains; the remainder are local trains. Only inter-city train tickets are eligible for advanced selling.
The 28 inter-city departures from Kamalapur Railway Station account for some 17,903 seats, of which just 2,740 are luxury seats.
The unusually luxurious Chittagong-bound Subarna Express has 664 seats of which 404 are air-conditioned, laid out over six air-conditioned coaches. But getting an air-conditioned seat on this train proved beyond the reach of average paying customers as well.
On Thursday, tickets for Subarna Express and all other inter-city trains scheduled for July 13 departures were up for advanced sale. Yesterday, advanced sales for July 14 departures were on sale, and date-wise pre-selling will continue until Monday covering daily departures until July 17.
Homeward-bound passengers in line to buy tickets for the Subarna Express said just 24 air-conditioned seat tickets had been sold at their counter. They said the ticket counter official claimed that luxury seats were all sold out.
Sources said Railway authorities had reserved 279 tickets on the July 13 Subarna Express for Railway staff, officials and VIPs. Another 101 tickets were sold online through the e-ticketing system. Those who braved the long lines at the station were not able to purchase tickets.
Railway Minister Mazibul Hoque told the Dhaka Tribune: “Luxury seats are limited, but regular customers should be able to purchase the majority of the luxury seat tickets. I will take action if I find any mismanagement in ticket sales.”