Bangladesh Railway will start selling train tickets in advance from July 20 in order to ease the commute of home-bound people ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.
Railway Minister Mazibul Hoque has made the announcement in a press briefing at the ministry yesterday afternoon.
Passengers can buy the tickets in advance both online and from the ticket counters, the minister said. The railway station will sell the return tickets from July 27, he added.
Each passenger can buy a maximum of four tickets. The tickets for July 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 will be available on July 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 respectively.
The return tickets for July 31 and August 1,2,3 and 4 will be available from July 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31.
Around 166 bogies will be added to the inter-city trains ahead of Eid and everyday around 18,000 tickets will be sold from Dhaka, the minister added.
However, law enforcers, including RAB, police, BGB, RNB and GRP will be deployed in the railway station to maintain law and order.
Although the government has announced date of rail advance tickets, but the decision to sell the advance tickets of bus and launch are yet to be finalised.
Khandakar Enayetullah, secretary general of a bus owners’ association, said, “The decision will be taken in a meeting after next two days.”
Bangladesh bus-truck owners’ association working committee member Salauddin said , “The advance bus ticket sale usually starts after 15 Ramadan [July 14].”
About the advanced launch tickets, Mahbub Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram, chairman of the Bangladesh Inland Waterways (passenger carriers) Association (BIWA) said, “The tickets would be sold from July 18, but it is not the final decision.”
He added that the special launch service would be added after 25 Ramadan. Usually, four-five special launch services are added ahead of every Eid.
Mahbub said: “More than 300,000 passengers travel during Eid by launch.”
