Advance Train Tickets Sell Out Within Minutes On Final Day

Within minutes Eid-ul-Fitr holidays tickets have been sold out for the train journeys. It’s reported on the media that advance tickets for Apr 9 trips across various western routes were available on the Bangladesh Railway website, the Rail Sheba app and Shohoz.com on Saturday morning. Bookings for train journeys along eastern routes can be made from 2pm.

Earlier The Bangladesh Railway has set the train schedule based on the presumption that Eid will fall on Apr 11. Accordingly, the online-only ticket sales kicked off on Mar 24. Authorities are also planning to offer tickets for Apr 10-12, subject to the moon's sighting.

The demand for advance tickets was light on the first day of the sales, but it escalated quickly, with all tickets being sold out within half an hour on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

By Thursday, tickets were gone in just five minutes and the swift sales continued into the weekend as seats disappeared within the first two minutes. According to the Bangladesh Railway website, seats were available on several trains to Rajshahi station before the online sales began at 8am on Saturday.

However, by 8:02am, all tickets for the Dhumketu Express had sold out, and while the Banalata Express showed 45 Shovon chair tickets as 'available', they were gone as soon as anyone attempted a purchase. Tickets for other trains to Dinajpur's Parbatipur station, including Nilsagar, Ekota, Chilahati, and Drutajan Express, were also sold out within two minutes of going on sale. 

Before the sales started, there were tickets available for the Rangpur Express and Kurigram Express trains to the Rangpur station, which sold out within eight and three minutes. For the Khulna station, tickets for the Sundarban Express and Chitra Express trains were available, but no AC seats were left on the Sundarban Express as of 8:03am.

Tickets for other western routes sold out within the first three to four minutes of the sale. Advance tickets are traditionally sold 10 days before the travel date. Accordingly, travellers were able to purchase train tickets for Apr 9 trips on Saturday. Tickets for return trips after Eid will be sold from Apr 3-9.

As many as 33,500 inter-city train tickets will be sold ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr this year. In addition, eight pairs of special trains will also operate on different routes nationwide to accommodate the Eid rush.