Advance train ticket sales for Eid-ul-Adha to begin on 13 May

Ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Adha, Bangladesh Railway will start selling advance train tickets from 13 May, with all tickets to be sold online.

The decision was finalised at a preparatory meeting held at the Ministry of Railways yesterday (5 May), reports Prothom Alo.

Under the schedule, tickets for journeys on 23 May will go on sale on 13 May. Tickets for travel on 24, 25, 26, and 27 May will be available on 14, 15, 16, and 17 May respectively.

Return tickets for post-Eid travel will go on sale from 21 May.

Railways Secretary Md Fahimul Islam told Prothom Alo that the preparatory meeting approved the plan to start advance ticket sales from 13 May.

He said an earlier meeting on 30 April had outlined the proposal, which was presented again on Monday and approved following discussion.

As in previous Eid seasons, tickets for trains operating in the western zone, covering Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Khulna divisions, will be released daily from 8am, while tickets for the eastern zone, covering Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, and Mymensingh divisions, will go on sale from 2pm.

Under the ticketing guidelines, passengers will be allowed to purchase a maximum of four tickets per day for both advance and return journeys during Eid, and those tickets will be non-refundable.

For passenger convenience, standing tickets equivalent to 25% of a train's total seating capacity will also be sold on the day of travel, although these will not be valid in upper-class coaches.

Railways officials said 10 special passenger trains will be operated during Eid travel.

These include the "Teesta Special" on the Dhaka–Dewangonj route and the "Chandpur Special" on the Chattogram–Chandpur route.

Both services will operate from 25 May until the day before Eid, and again for three days from the second day of Eid.

In addition, the "Parbatipur Special" will run on the Joydebpur–Parbatipur route for three days before Eid, from 24 to 26 May, and for another three days after Eid.

Four more special trains will operate only on Eid day, carrying passengers from Bhairab and Mymensingh to the Sholakia Eidgah.

To facilitate the transport of sacrificial animals, two trains named "Cattle Special," will run on 22 and 23 May, departing from Dewangonj Bazar and Islampur Bazar and arriving at Kamalapur, Tejgaon, and Dhaka Cantonment stations.