The advance sale of train tickets for homebound people on Eid Ul Adha commenced on June 2. The demand for tickets is naturally high during Eid as people travel from cities to villages to celebrate with their loved ones. Trains offer comparatively more comfortable and safer transportation, if riding on the roof can be avoided.
The Bangladesh Railways has introduced sale of tickets online, a significant improvement from the previous practice of selling them directly at stations. This year, 100 per cent of the 33,500 available seats will be sold online, with ticket sales for Western routes starting at 8 am and for Eastern routes at 2 pm on June 2.
Passengers can easily purchase tickets from the railway's website, which requires a one-time registration. Those already registered can simply log in to secure their seats. To enhance this process, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) have been implemented to speed up file delivery and reduce load times, ensuring a seamless customer experience.
It is crucial to ensuring both the transparency of the ticketing process and the lessening of customer inconvenience. During the last Ramadan Eid, peak hours saw significant efforts to manage ticket sales efficiently. For instance, between 2 pm and 2:30 pm on March 30, 2024, the system handled approximately 176 million requests.
Analysing ticket sale data from the previous Eid, it is evident that Sahaj, the organisation managing online train ticket sales, has successfully catered to the high demand, particularly for the North Bengal (Western region) customers. Tickets sold faster than ever, and South Bengal (Eastern Zone) tickets remained available for longer periods.
Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha offer long holidays. Educational institutions and many workplaces close for three days or more, prompting a large exodus from cities to villages. In the past, this led to long queues for bus, train, and launch tickets. This year, online ticketing has eliminated the need for people to spend sleepless nights at stations.
Tawhid Ibrahim
Student
Department of English
Stamford University