Ticketing Traffic Surges: Bangladesh Railway Servers Face Record Eid Rush
As Eid approaches, Bangladesh Railway is experiencing a dramatic surge in online traffic as passengers rush to book advance tickets. To facilitate smoother ticketing, the railway authorities have staggered the timing: tickets for western zone trains go on sale from 8:00 am, while those for eastern zone trains are available from 2:00 pm—all exclusively online.
On Monday morning, advance ticket sales for June 5 travel on western zone trains began. Within the first 30 minutes, the server registered a staggering 29.7 million hits, according to railway sources.
“The highest number of online hits was recorded yesterday (Sunday) when ticket sales began,” said Md. Sajedul Islam, Station Manager at Kamalapur Railway Station. “Today, demand is even higher, and it appears the trend will continue to grow.”
On Sunday, May 25, the server logged 19.4 million hits within the first 30 minutes of sales. Once western zone ticket sales opened at 8:00 am, hits climbed to 27.6 million. Similarly, when eastern zone ticket sales opened at 2:00 pm, the system saw 19.4 million hits in just half an hour.
On Saturday, May 24, advance ticket sales for June 3 travel on western zone trains drew 11.4 million hits in the first 30 minutes.
Sales for eastern zone seats scheduled for June 5 will commence at 2:00 pm on Monday. As per Bangladesh Railway’s schedule, tickets for June 6 will be available on May 27.
For June 5 travel, a total of 33,924 tickets have been allocated nationwide. Of these, 16,576 seats are reserved on 24 eastern zone trains, while 17,348 tickets are available on 21 western zone trains. As of 8:30 am, 14,581 tickets had been sold for western zone trains.
Across the country, a total of 185,803 tickets have been allotted, and 22,677 had been sold as of 8:30 am.
For the post-Eid return journey, advance ticket sales for June 9 will open on May 30. Tickets for June 10 to June 15 will be available from May 31 to June 5 respectively, with one day’s sales opening per day.
