The Kamalapur Railway Station (KRS) witnessed a big rush of ticket seekers on Monday as Eid-ul-Fitr is drawing near.
They thronged the station to buy advance train tickets for June 13.
As Eid-ul-Fitr is likely to be celebrated either on June 16 or June 17, the demand for train tickets from June 13 to June 15 was high, KRS officials said.
Most of the ticket seekers, however, returned home empty-handed because the number of people was much higher than that of the tickets available for sale.
The Bangladesh Railway (BR) started selling advance train tickets from June 01. It will continue to sell them until June 06.
The railway authority is now selling advance tickets for the journey from June 10 to June 15.
Even many people started gathering at the station since Monday noon to join the queue on Tuesday for tickets to be sold for June 14.
Sirajul Alam Monju, a student of Jagannath University, went to the station at 4:00 am on Monday. Around 80 people were standing in front of him in the queue.
"I reached the counter at 10:15 am, but I didn't get any ticket for Ekota Express."
Later, he bought only two tickets for his elder brother and his brother's wife who would travel by Nilsagor Express train.
The two trains have seating capacity for 750 passengers, he said.
Though Mr. Monju was lucky to get at least two tickets, several hundred people returned home empty-handed.
Soon after 2:00 pm, the railway authority announced that no advance tickets were available for sale on the day.
Many of the ticket seekers claimed that tickets for air-conditioned (AC) chair and berths were sold out much earlier.
Mahfuzul Hoque, a bank officer, was waiting in the queue for long. He said only 90 people were standing in front of him at Counter No. 04. But he got no AC tickets for Chattogram-bound Mohanagar Provati, Godhuli, Turna Nishitha or Sonar Bangla.
When contacted, KRS manager Shitangshu Chakraborty said they were selling 23,514 tickets a day when the demand for tickets was at least 0.1 million.
"We are just trying to sell tickets to a maximum number of people," he said.
Dilapidated condition of highways and severe traffic jams have pushed up the demand for train tickets many times in recent years, he said.
He also said most of home-goers were seeking tickets for June 13 to June 15 as the festival will be celebrated either on June 16 or June 17.
Return tickets for June 19 to June 24 will be sold between June 10 and June 15 at Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat railway stations, according to officials.
However, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) will launch 'Eid Special Service' on June 10. It will start selling advance bus tickets today (Tuesday).
It will operate 900 buses during the Eid vacation, according to BRTC announcement. Of the buses, 375 will provide service to Dhaka people.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) will start its special launch service on June 13.
Besides, private bus operators started selling advance tickets from May 30.
Tickets from June 10 to June 15 will be considered advance tickets, according to Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners' Association.
Most of the operators said the tickets for June 13 to June 15 have already been sold.
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