Queues for advance tickets swell, as does suffering

Frustration and misery know no bounds when it comes to availing train tickets before Eid.

Take Rosy Akhter, for example. The 45-year-old housewife reached Kamalapur Railway Station at 6:00am in the morning and found herself at 379th place in the unofficial queue exclusively for women.

She had to leave the queue a number of times, pleading the person behind her to save her place, as she was very tired. The long wait in the queue also means inadequate sleep.

When this correspondent spoke to her at 1:15pm, she had not yet managed the four tickets required for her family who plan on celebrating the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha at their village home in Brahmanbaria.

Huge crowd is seen at Kamalapur railway station in Dhaka on Saturday noon on August 11, 2018 as Bangladesh Railway suspends sales of advance train tickets for the Eid-ul-Azha for one and half hours from 10:30am due to internet problem. Photo: Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary/Star

“I don't know whether I will get any ticket,” she said. “Some people in the queue are saying that I will get tickets while some others are saying that I have no chance. Only the Almighty knows.”

“We planned to take the train this year because of last year's bad experience on the road [bus],” she added.

There were people who arrived at the station much before Rosy and stayed overnight, resting on the floor.

However, many of them were all smiles when they got their desired tickets. Many were not as fortunate.

As per their pre-announcement, Bangladesh Railway yesterday sold advance tickets for August 20. Eid is expected to be celebrated on August 22. Like previous years, many started to gather at the station from Friday evening. Ticket sale started at 8:00am.

Sabbir Ahmed, a college student, came to the station on Friday evening and was happy after receiving his ticket to Chittagong. But many alleged that they did not get AC and regular cabin tickets even after standing in queue on Friday night.

Their woes intensified as ticket sale was suspended for a while due to disruption of internet.

Ticket sale was suspended at around 10:30am because of internet problems, Sitangshu Chakraborty, manager of Kamalapur Railway Station, told The Daily Star. However, operation resumed at 12:00pm, he added.

As many as 26,895 advance tickets from Kamalapur Railway Station were made available yesterday, Sitangshu said.

About the complaints from ticket-seekers, he said there was huge pressure of passengers but the number of tickets is limited.

Bangladesh Railway will sell advance tickets for August 21 today.