The railway authorities are hard-pressed these days to cater to the huge demand for advance train tickets ahead of Eid-ul-Azha on September 25. Sources at Kamalapur Railway Station said thousands of people wanting to go to their native places during the coming holidays have been visiting the station every day since the sale of advance tickets began on September 15. Railway sources said the limited number of trains would not be able to accommodate all those seeking tickets. This has been a usual trend during Eid holidays, they added. A visit to Kamalapur Railway Station yesterday revealed long serpentine queues in front of the 20 counters selling advance tickets for September 23. Though the counters open at 9 am, queues start forming much before that time. Some people even park themselves in front of the counters the whole night, hoping to be the lucky ones. Several people said they had been waiting for hours but in vain.
“I wanted two tickets for Dinajpur. I waited in the queue for five hours. But when I reached the counter, they said there were no more tickets for that day. Now, I don’t know how I'm going to celebrate Eid with my family back home,” said Mozammel Huq, wiping sweat off his face.
“The general people are not getting tickets because the VIPs have booked them earlier,” he added in disgust.
The situation was equally bad in the separate queues for women. “I’ve been waiting here for two hours now but yet to reach the counter. I don’t know whether I would get a ticket for Rajshahi on September 23,” said Moumita Yesmin.
However, relief and joy knew no bounds for those successful in getting tickets. “I'm very happy. I've got a ticket for Drutajan Express for Dinajpur,” said a beaming Zahidul Islam. “I had been waiting for five hours, but the wait was worth it,” he added.
Meanwhile, law enforcers in large numbers patrolled the station premises and the surroundings, maintaining discipline in the queues as well as keeping a hawk eye for touts selling tickets for a premium.
The railway authorities said they were monitoring the whole area through CCTV camera to avert any sort of untoward incident.
One can buy a maximum four advance tickets, which are being sold from 9 am till 5 pm. The sale of advance tickets will continue till September 19.
The return tickets for September 27, 28, 29, 30 and October 1 would be sold on September 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27, respectively. The return tickets will be available from Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat.
The railway authorities said there will be no schedule disruption this time. They said additional bogies will be attached to the inter-city trains to accommodate the extra rush of passengers. They expect to a daily passenger load of 2.50 lakh people during the Eid holidays.
Some 138 coaches from the workshop will be added to the existing ones, while a total of 224 locomotives will be in operation across the country every day ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.