Ticketing Turmoil: Server Snag Halts Train Sales for 15 Hours

Train ticket sales were suspended for over 15 hours, from Thursday night to Friday morning, due to a server disruption caused by ongoing maintenance work, according to the Bangladesh Railway authorities.

Ticket sales resumed at 11:00 AM on Friday, confirmed Shahadat Hossain, Station Manager at Kamalapur Railway Station. “Due to the server complications, online ticket sales were halted, which led to schedule disruptions for several trains at Kamalapur,” he stated. “However, as online ticketing resumed at 11:00 AM, the situation has begun to normalize.”

During the outage, only Black Paper Tickets (BPT)—valid for standing passengers only—were issued at counters. No reserved seats were sold for intercity trains during this period.

Bangladesh Railway's ticketing operations are currently managed by the Shohoz-Synesis-Vincen JV consortium.

Rail officials attributed several delays to shunting power issues, causing further complications. Passengers experienced significant hardship due to the delays. For instance, the Bhurimari Express, bound for Lalmonirhat, was scheduled to depart Kamalapur at 8:30 AM but arrived only around 11:00 AM. The Rangpur Express departed 90 minutes behind schedule, and other trains including Jayantika and Kishoreganj Express also faced delays.

The core issue stemmed from the ticketing server being offline from 8:00 PM Thursday until 11:00 AM Friday, leaving many passengers unable to secure tickets and causing widespread disruption.

Despite the temporary chaos, railway officials noted that return journeys for Eid passengers remained largely smooth, with no major complaints reported, and many travelers opted to return early to avoid anticipated weekend congestion.