Eid advance train ticket sales begin on 14 Mar

Bangladesh Railway will begin selling advance train tickets for Eid-ul-Fitr on 14 March, with a special arrangement for seven-day advance ticket sales. 

Tickets for western region trains will be available from 8am, and eastern region tickets from 2pm.

On 14 March, tickets for 24 March will be available, followed by tickets for 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30 March being sold on 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 March, respectively.

Md Afzal Hossain, director general of Bangladesh Railway, shared this information at an inter-ministerial meeting held at Bidyut Bhaban in the capital today. 

Tickets for 31 March, 1 April, and 2 April may also be sold depending on moon sighting.

To accommodate the increased passenger demand during Eid, Bangladesh Railway will operate five additional pairs of special trains. Regular intercity trains will continue to run as usual, without weekly breaks during this period.

For passenger convenience, 100% of tickets will be sold online, and 25% will be available for purchase at the originating station before departure. 

Passengers can purchase tickets once for Eid travel, with a maximum of four seats per ticket. Tickets will be non-refundable.

Post-Eid return tickets

Advance sales for return train tickets will begin on 24 March. 

Tickets for 3 April will be sold on 24 March, followed by return tickets for 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 April being sold on 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30 March, respectively.

Special Eid trains

Railways will run five pairs of special trains on Eid. 

Bangladesh Railway will operate the following Eid special trains: two pairs of Chandpur Eid Special (1 & 2) on the Chattogram-Chandpur-Chattogram route; one pair of Dewanganj Eid Special (3 & 4) on the Dhaka-Dewanganj-Dhaka route; one pair of Sholakia Eid Special (5 & 6) on the Bhairab Bazar-Kishoreganj-Bhairab Bazar route; one pair of Sholakia Eid Special (7 & 8) on the Mymensingh-Kishoreganj-Mymensingh route; and one pair of Parbatipur Eid Special (9 & 10) on the Joydebpur-Parbatipur-Joydebpur route.

To meet increased demand, Railway plans to include 44 additional passenger coaches in service (28 from the Pahartali workshop and 36 from the Saidpur workshop). 

Also, 19 locomotives (14 from the metre gauge and five from the broad gauge) will be used for passenger trains.

Furthermore, all intercity trains will operate without their regular weekly off days from 27 March until the day before Eid. However, no intercity trains will operate on Eid day.