Hundreds scramble for train tickets

Hundreds thronged the capital's Kamalapur Railway Station marking the last day's sale of advance train tickets for September 24 yesterday with special trains to be run from Tuesday, while bus and launch companies plan on running additional trips from tomorrow.

Though home-goers have started to leave, transport officials believe the rush will begin tomorrow when the bulk of around 60 lakh Eid vacationers will start departing.

Meanwhile, some 1,700 of the 5,364 advance tickets, mostly of routes to Chandpur and Dhaka, were left unsold at Chittagong Railway Station with officials claiming the demand was high for stations around midway to the four destinations for which tickets were available. However, tickets to Sylhet and Mymensingh, the remaining two destinations, were sold out by 11:30am.

One Mosharaf Hossain told The Daily Star at Kamalapur yesterday that he had to leave empty-handed after waiting five hours on Friday for tickets to Khulna. Having already stood in a queue for four hours yesterday, he said, "If I fail today, I will try to get a bus ticket."

Of the tickets, 25 percent are kept for sale online, five percent for VIPs, five percent for railways staff and the rest sold at counters. Over 14,000 tickets are sold daily at Kamalapur, said railway officials. Many ticket-seekers expressed discontent over the quota system. "Because of such quota system, many people like me do not get tickets after waiting for hours," said one Hasanuzzaman, trying to reach Rangpur.

Privately-run buses' advance tickets have already been sold out. Hanif Paribahan Manager Mosharaf Hossain said they would run 1,200 trips in both directions from tomorrow.

State-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation will operate around 500 buses to different districts, said its chairman, Mizanur Rahman.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Association Chairman Mahbub Uddin Ahmed said the number of launches operating from Sadarghat Launch Terminal to southern districts was increased from 60-65 to 110-120 for the Eid rush as usual. Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation will operate three steamers daily from Monday.