Bangladesh Railway (BR) will start selling advance tickets for Eid-ul-Azha from September 15, officials said.
"The sale of advance tickets for Eid-ul-Azha will start on September 15 and will continue until September 19. The return ticket selling will start on September 23 and will continue until 27th of the current month," Railway Minister Md Mujibul Haque told journalists at a press briefing at Rail Bhaban in the capital on Thursday.
"The sale of tickets will start at 9:00 am on the dates mentioned above. One passenger would be able to purchase four tickets at best," he said.
He said apart from regular train services, five pairs of special trains will ply three days before the Eid and seven days after the festival. Besides, two pairs of Solakia Express will also ply on the Eid day.
The special train routes are: Dhaka-Dewanganj, Chittagong-Chandpur, Parbatipur-Dhaka, Dhaka-Khulna, Bhairab-Kishoreganj and Mymensingh-Kishore-ganj.
Advance tickets to be sold from Dhaka and Chittagong stations for journey on 20th, 21st and 22nd September could be collected on September 15, 16 and 17 respectively.
Besides, tickets for journey on September 23 and 24 could be procured on September 18 and 19 respectively.
Return journey tickets for 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th September and 1st October from Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat could be collected in advance on 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th September respectively.
"To avoid any disaster of train schedule we have cancelled the leave of officials and staff concerned for ensuring smooth journey during Eid. We have also taken measures to ensure passenger safety. Apart from services of police, BGB and RAB, two security forces of railway - GRP (government reserved police) and railway nirapatta bahini (RNB)--will work twenty-four hours for passenger safety," he said.
He said that with the help of the district administration mobile courts will also work.
Acting secretary of railway Firoz Salahuddin and director general (DG) of railway Amjad Hossain were present.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com
