Crowds are swelling at Kamalapur Railway Station in the capital as passengers struggle to secure train tickets ahead of Eid, with long lines forming at every ticket counter.
A visit to the station on Sunday afternoon showed people waiting for hours in the hope of obtaining a confirmed ticket.
However, the “Rail Sheba” website shows that tickets for all trains are already sold out.
With tickets unavailable both online and at the counters, homebound travellers are facing severe difficulties.
Mazharul Islam, a passenger travelling from Dhaka to Khulna on the Chitra Express, told TIMES about his frustrating experience of trying to book tickets online.
“We had five people trying with five phones to book tickets online. After many attempts, we managed to secure just one ticket. To be honest, it felt like fighting a battle to get it,” he said.
A similar sense of frustration was expressed by Zubayer Ahmed, a passenger bound for Rangpur who was waiting on the platform.
“There are no tickets online and none at the counters either. But we have to go home for Eid. So, I was forced to buy a standing ticket,” he said.
Many passengers outside the station were also seen travelling with standing tickets, risking their safety during the journey.
Railway Steward Salman, who serves on the Dhaka–Rajshahi route of the Bonolota Express, said additional coaches had been attached to some trains to cope with the surge in passengers.
“Depending on demand, one or two extra coaches have been added to certain trains,” he said.
While ordinary passengers were returning disappointed after failing to secure tickets at the counters, a completely different scene unfolded inside the station master’s office.
Inside the office of Station Master Anwarul Islam, the atmosphere was extremely busy, with a constant flow of phone calls and visitors, resembling a crowded marketplace.
Some visitors identified themselves as personal assistants to ministers, while others claimed to be drivers of senior government officials.
Almost all carried some form of recommendation letter, seeking confirmed tickets.
Some requested three tickets, others five, and some were asking for single cabin tickets.
When asked about the situation, Station Master Anwarul Islam told TIMES that a limited number of tickets are reserved for railway officials and staff.
“We have some tickets allocated for our own use. Those are often provided based on recommendations. We are also government employees, and it becomes difficult to manage if we do not accommodate such requests,” he said.
Explaining the source of the tickets, he added that around 1.5 per cent of tickets are reserved for official use by railway officers and employees.
“We manage from that allocation,” he said.
Amid the severe shortage of tickets at counters and online, a different picture has emerged on social media.
On Facebook, posts have appeared in a group named “Railway Ticket Buy and Sell”, openly offering train tickets ahead of Eid.
The posts invite interested buyers to contact the sellers if they need tickets before or after Eid.
Calls to the phone numbers listed in those posts revealed that tickets are indeed available, but they are being sold at prices far higher than the official fare.
In addition to the black market, passengers have also reported cases of fraud.
Ahmed Jibon, who attempted to buy a ticket for the Chilahati Express to Nilphamari, said he was cheated while trying to purchase a ticket through the Facebook group.
He told TIMES that after contacting a number listed in the group, he was asked to send Tk700 in advance.
After transferring the money through bKash, he was immediately blocked.
When another person later tried to call the same number, the phone was found switched off.
Attempts were made to contact Kamalapur Railway Station Manager Md Sazedul Islam regarding the ticket shortage at the counters and the allegations of black market sales and fraud on Facebook.
However, despite waiting outside his office for nearly four hours, he could not be reached.
