The sales of advance train tickets are drawing huge crowds in Dhaka as people throng ticket counters to secure seats for their journey home ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.
Seventy-seven counters at five spots - Kamalapur, Airport, Cantonment, Tejgaon railway stations and Fulbaria - in the capital started selling the advance tickets for April 27 at 8am on Saturday.
Some had been waiting since Friday afternoon at the counters, to ensure that they could go home to their loved ones to celebrate the holy Muslim festival. But their tired faces seemed to have rejuvenated once they got their hands on their desired tickets.
But those who had yet to purchase tickets were worried that they might have to leave empty-handed.
Also Read - In pictures: Eid ticket hopes draw huge crowds at Kamalapur Railway Station
Like previous years, half of the tickets will be sold at counters and the rest online, according to Bangladesh Railway sources.
But passengers complained that they had to stand and wait in long queues as they could not buy tickets online despite multiple attempts.
People stand in line to buy tickets at Kamalapur Railway Station on Saturday, April 23, 2022 Bangla TribuneShohoz, the largest online ticket destination in Bangladesh, has managed to sell more than 50,000 tickets in the first hour of the sale on Saturday.The platform saw around 5,00,000 hits every minute on Bangladesh Railway’s e-ticketing website.
The platform’s ticketing system is running successfully at 77 rail station ticket counters across the country.
The counters will continue selling tickets till 4pm in the day.
A passenger will be allowed to buy a maximum of four tickets against his NID card.
The advance tickets for April 28, 29, 30 and May 1 journeys will be available on April 24, 25, 26 and 27, respectively.
Return tickets for May 1, 2, 3 and 4 will be available on May 5, 6, 7 and 8, in that order.
Six pairs of special trains will run on different routes on the occasion of Eid, reports UNB.