Bangladesh Railway is going to expand its online ticketing system enabling the passengers to buy tickets from stations connected to the online network for travelling to any destinations.
At present five stations are connected online for ticket selling and the authorities are planning to expand online ticketing facility to 61 more railway stations.
The present online connected stations for ticket selling are Kamlapur, Dhaka Biman Bandar, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Sylhet.
Railway officials said that connecting 61 more stations would be completed in the next six months after the installation of the new central server and other infrastructures.
The railway on Thursday ran a demonstration for expanding the service at the railway building. Three companies— Computer Network Systems, which now operates the online ticketing system—Technohaven and Daffodil Software—staged the demonstration.
‘We can introduce online ticketing in at least 66 stations by the next six months,’ Md Shahjahan, additional director general (operation) of railway, said after the demonstration.
He said the railway would gradually bring all 440 stations under the online ticketing system in line with the government’s vision for ‘Digital Bangladesh’.
Officials said that online expansion initiative would facilitate the passengers very much as people would not need to go to a particular station for purchasing ticket for any destination.
The new online ticketing system will also enable the passengers to return their tickets from any of the stations by paying some fees as the 66 stations would be connected with a central server, which would show the sold tickets along with the place of selling.
‘We have successfully implemented the first phase of the online ticketing system. We can introduce the system at more than the 66 stations if the railway authorities desire,’ Munir-Uz-Zaman, managing director of CNS, said.
Shahjahan said the present ticketing system through the mobile phones and the internet would continue even after expanding the online ticketing system.
The railway in May introduced electronic ticketing service to remove hassles of passengers and check sales of train tickets on the black market. Now 10 per cent of total tickets is being sold on internet through e-ticketing service, officials said.
-With New Age input
