A basic question about public service arises from the apparent unavailability of train tickets from Dhaka to Sylhet for Friday, November 6.
Screenshots of the railway ticket-search page, captured on November 5, show zero available tickets in every class displayed for three services: Parabat Express, Jayentika Express, and Upaban Express. The situation is surprising enough to warrant a clear explanation from Bangladesh Railway.
Despite different departure times, the screenshots show zero available tickets in all the listed categories.
This raises an important question: Is the demand for travel to Sylhet on an ordinary Friday so exceptionally high that every listed seat on all three trains has been sold, or are there other factors affecting ticket availability?
The screenshots alone cannot establish whether all seats have genuinely been sold. Nor do they reveal how many passengers will actually board, how many tickets were allocated to different channels or quotas, or whether any technical or operational issue affected the online display. Those are precisely the questions that a transparent investigation should answer.
Bangladesh Railway should therefore verify the position on the ground. The Railway Secretary could form several effective inspection teams to examine the three Dhaka-Sylhet services.
The teams should compare the number of tickets issued with the number of passengers who actually board, check coach-wise occupancy, review quota and release arrangements, and examine whether tickets are being diverted, withheld or resold unlawfully.
The findings should be documented and made public, while protecting passengers’ personal information. If the investigation identifies irregularities or negligence, those responsible should face appropriate action under the applicable rules.
The issue also invites a wider reflection on the structure and performance of public institutions. Over time, railway administration has been given a dedicated department and then a separate ministry, with the associated senior administrative positions and public expenditure.
Institutional restructuring, however, should be judged by whether it improves the quality, reliability and accessibility of services -- not simply by the number of offices or senior posts created. The public is entitled to ask what measurable improvements have resulted from these changes.
The contrast with private transport is also worth examining. A passenger who approaches a private bus operator may sometimes find a seat for the following day, although the fare may be higher than the railway fare. This is not proof that private operators are always more efficient, or that railways can be assessed by exactly the same standards.
It does, however, highlight the importance of responsiveness, transparent booking, and reliable information. A public service should not leave passengers uncertain about whether tickets are genuinely sold out or simply unavailable through the channel they are using.
The answer is not necessarily to centralize every operational decision. Rather, Bangladesh needs clear central oversight, enforceable service standards, transparent ticket-allocation rules, reliable digital systems, and strong field-level monitoring.
Decentralized units must also be held to measurable performance targets. Where decentralization has weakened oversight or encouraged arbitrary practices, the arrangements should be reviewed and corrected.
Any reform -- centralized or decentralized -- must be based on evidence and must demonstrably improve public service.
There is also a public-finance dimension. When institutions fail to deliver the services expected of them, the state may face additional administrative costs, repeated interventions and avoidable losses.
Ultimately, public expenditure is funded by citizens, including through taxes. Preventing waste and ensuring that public officials perform their responsibilities are therefore not merely administrative concerns; they are matters of fairness to taxpayers.
The immediate request is straightforward: Let the Railway Secretary arrange an independent, practical check of the Dhaka-Sylhet trains and publish the findings.
Bangladesh Railway should explain how many tickets were released and sold, how many passengers travelled, whether all displayed seats were occupied, and whether any irregularity was found.
If the screenshots reflect genuine full occupancy, the public deserves accurate information about demand and capacity. If they do not, the reasons must be identified and corrected.
Citizens do not ask for institutions merely to exist; they expect them to serve. Public confidence in Bangladesh Railway will grow when ticketing is transparent, services are reliable, and responsibility is visible.
The real measure of governance is not the size of the administrative structure, but the quality of service experienced by ordinary people.
Md Mizanul Hoque Chowdhury is a retired Additional Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Bangladesh.
