2nd day of advance train ticket sale sees longer queues

The crowd increased, so did sufferings, on the second day as sales of advance train tickets for the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr continued at five railway stations in Dhaka on Sunday.
The authorities started the sale of train tickets for April 28 at 8:00 am at Kamalapur, Airport, Tejgaon, Cantonment and Phulbaria rail stations.
Hundreds of thousands of people were seen waiting in queues since the previous night.
The hot weather and humidity intensified the sufferings as more people were joining the queues but very few were leaving with tickets.
Many alleged that they could not buy tickets online after trying for several hours, but found that tickets were sold out within about a minute after the start of sale.
Many people in the queues took their Sehri as well as Iftar at the stations.
Yasin Hassan, a private sector employee, went to the station at 11:00 pm on Saturday from his office. He took his Sehri at the station. He waited till 4:00 pm for a ticket to Khulna.
"At last I got a ticket," he said, adding that he failed to purchase a ticket online.
Expressing his anger, he questioned why more than 50 per cent tickets were not being sold online.
The tickets were being sold from 18 counters at Kamalapur Railway Station including two counters for females, and one counter for people with special needs.
Tickets for all intercity trains and Khulna-bound special trains are being sold at Kamalapur Railway Station.
Tickets for Chattogram and Noakhali-bound trains are being sold at Airport Railway Station while tickets for Mymensingh, Jamalpur, and Dewanganj-bound special trains at Tejgaon Railway Station.
Tickets for Netrakona-bound Mohonganj Express and Haor Express are being sold at Cantonment Station and Sylhet and Kishoreganj-bound trains at Phulbaria Railway Station.
From Dhaka, the BR is selling around 27,000 advance tickets every day, of which 50 per cent are sold online.
Travellers seeking train tickets are required to show their national identity cards or birth certificates.
An individual can buy up to four tickets but in that case, the NIDs or birth certificates of each of the other three passengers must be shown.
Tickets for April 29 will go on sale on Monday, April 30 on Tuesday and May 01 on Wednesday.
Return trips will start on May 05, sale of tickets for which will begin on May 01.
Eid-ul-Fitr is likely to be celebrated on May 02, subject to moon sighting.
Accordingly, Bangladesh Railway has started sales of train tickets.
However, if Eid is on May 03, tickets for May 02 will be sold on April 28.

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