Sale of Eid train tickets to start on 14 June

The sale of advance train tickets on the occasion of the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha will start on 14 June, said Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan in a press conference at the Rail Bhaban on Tuesday afternoon.

Like last Eid-ul-Fitr, tickets for all seats will be sold online only. Standing tickets will be sold at four counters – Kamalapur, Cantonment and Airport station in Dhaka and Joydevpur station in Gazipur.

Eid tickets sold online and over the counter are non-refundable.

Based on the experience of the last Eid-ul-Fitr, rail authorities have decided to sell tickets in two shifts to reduce pressure on the server. 

All inter-city train tickets for the western region will go on sale from 8am and 12pm for the eastern region.

The railway authorities have noticed that the demand for tickets in the western region is relatively high from the beginning of the day but the passengers of the region do not get the tickets as expected. On the other hand, tickets for the eastern region remain unsold. 

On the occasion of Eid, eight pairs of special trains will be operated for five days before Eid and five days after Eid. Weekly off-days of all inter-city trains will be cancelled from 24 June till the eve of Eid to provide uninterrupted services.

At the press conference, the railway minister said that tickets for 24 June will be available from 14 June. Thus, tickets for 25, 26, 27 and 28 June will be available on 15, 16, 17 and 18 June respectively.

Similarly, the sale of return tickets will start on 22 June when tickets for 2 July will be available. Tickets for 3, 4, 5 and 6 July will be available on 23, 24, 25 and 26 June respectively.

Regarding standing tickets, the minister said 32,000 passengers will be transported from Dhaka to various destinations every day. A maximum of 25% of the total seats will be sold as standing tickets.

Proposal to add additional engines and coaches in the meeting

In the Tuesday meeting, it was proposed to increase the number of engines and coaches. A plan has been taken to add 65 additional coaches for the Eid journey. Out of this, 40 metre-gauge coaches will be brought from the Pahartali workshop and 25 broad-gauge coaches from the Syedpur workshop.

Apart from this, a plan has been taken to add 116 additional engines in the eastern region and 102 in the western region on the occasion of Eid.