The Bangladesh Railway is likely to start selling advance tickets from July 1 for special train services starting from July 5 ahead of Eid ul-Azha.
The railway is set to run six special trains before and after Eid, which is expected to be celebrated on July 10. This time the railway is scheduled to sell advance tickets from six spots in the capital instead of five spots.
A meeting on Tuesday at the Rail Bhaban discussed the railway’s action plan ahead of the Eid. These plans will be finalised next week, the railway additional director general (operation) Sardar Shahdat Ali told New Age after the meeting.
Railways minister Nurul Islam Sujan is scheduled to hold a press conference on June 22 to announce the details of the railway’s Eid services.
Meeting sources said that the advance tickets would likely to be sold on July 1 for train journeys on July 5, on July 2 for July 6, on July 3 for July 7, on July 4 for July 8 and on July 5 for July 9.
Advance tickets for return journeys are likely to be sold on July 7 for July 11, on July 8 for July 12, on July 9 for July 13 and on July 11 for July 14 and July 15.
The railway may run four special trains three days before and five days after the Eid on the Dhaka-Dewanganj, Chittagong-Chandpur and Joydebpur-Panchagarh routes.
Two additional trains – Sholakia Special 1 and 2 – will run on the Eid day on the Bhairab-Kishoreganj and the Mymensingh-Kishoreganj routes.
Sardar Shahdat Ali told New Age that this year one spot would be added inside the capital for selling advance tickets.
This year’s advance tickets are likely to be sold from Kamalapur station, Airport station, Tejgaon station, Dhaka Cantonment station, Phulbaria and additionally from Banani station.
The selling of advance tickets at the counters and online will start at 8:00am and at every ticket selling centre, one counter will be designated for women.
A person will be allowed to buy a maximum of four tickets at a time.
The railway is also planning to add 112 carriages to the fleet during Eid journeys.
Weekly day-offs for all trains will be cancelled from July 4 until Eid.
– With New Age input
